Naruto acquired friends?
The rest of the journey to the village where they could finally rest properly for the first time was…
Odd.
The samurai weren´t really talkative in the first place, neither were the servants, but now even the Uchiha were sort of hovering around him. Grateful, yes of course, Naruto could feel it in their chakra, but hovering carefully and unsure how to approach nonetheless.
The only thing they really spoke about was his injury.
Apparently, the poison had not been lethal in small doses, but it was meant to paralyze and render someone useless. One of the samurai had been barely grazed by it, and he was currently lying unconscious and with high fever on a makeshift stretcher that they had attached to one of the horses the servants were on. There was no way to treat him now, but he was stable, so until they reached the village, he would live.
The same couldn´t be said for Naruto – or well, it shouldn´t have been, because the amount of poison from just a graze was already this damaging to the body. Naruto however stood there and had simply pulled down the kunai, much to the protest of Hikaku who tried to tell him to be careful and not treat his injury so carelessly, and tossed it aside.
Izuna especially had looked stricken and worried once he heard of the poison´s damage, but Naruto had reassured him of his wellbeing multiple times, saying it wasn´t a big deal and that he was poison resistant.
He´d earned some very troubled looks after that particular statement, but couldn´t figure out why that would cause such a reaction. Poison resistance is a good thing, and while Naruto wasn´t aware whether or not there was a specific kekkei genkai like that, surely there´s one or two people with poison resistance like him. The borderline sympathetic and panicked chakra that spiked inside of them threw him off, if only for a few seconds.
The wound was irritated once the kunai had been pulled out, but Naruto had assured them multiple times that yes, he was fine, and no, he would definitely not suddenly fall unconscious during the rest of their journey.
Kasumi walked up to him with an unsure look on her face however and handed him bandages she had pulled out from her pouch. She hesitantly reached towards him and gently pushed the bandages into his hands. The calm and gentle gesture was surprising, seeing as she was a rather headstrong and rough woman, but it certainly wasn´t unappreciated. When he had looked at her with a confused tilt of his head, she scoffed.
“You might say you´re fine, however you should still take care of that wound. We can help with that… if you want to.” She looked back to the group, and out of all of them Izuna was the first to step forward, hand clenched tightly at his side but face set in quiet determination. His expression gave nothing away, but Naruto could tell from the way his chakra curled in on itself that he was relatively distressed.
Naruto had shook his head, but accepted the bandages anyway, pretty sure they wouldn´t let that one go. He wouldn’t need them, seeing as his wound would only take a few minutes until it was closed again, but they didn´t know that, so Naruto was going to spare them the anxiety.
The rest of the journey was rather quiet. The daimyo had not thanked them for their efforts, to no one´s surprise really, but he had at least come out to check whether any of his guards was dead or not, or if he still has the soldiers he needed. Once that was settled, they resumed their way, hurrying a little more than before in order to avoid running into anything else that might cause a conflict. The mountain pass might be stable now that Naruto had reinforced it with his doton, but that didn´t mean it was wise to stay here any longer.
During the few hours they spend walking on foot, the blonde certainly didn´t miss the way their eyes constantly seemed to peek at him before looking back just as fast as soon as they realized he was aware of their stares.
Naruto was used to people´s gazes lingering on him. Be it as a monster, a war hero, a leader or just a new variable in the grand scheme of things, the attention – positive as well as negative – was always on him. He just had that kind of presence, is what Kakashi had told him once. The difference was that most of the time, Naruto could at least tell why that was the case.
It wasn´t malice, that was for sure. In fact, their chakra was light and grateful, relieved at the fact that they hadn´t lost their youngest to the ambush. Hikaku especially seemed to have brightened even more since the beginning of the journey, but that was hardly an improvement, seeing as he had been the most open out of the Uchiha to begin with.
So why did they suddenly seem so unsure about him?
Naruto sighed and carefully ran a hand through his hair, pushing the loose blonde strands back into their place and out of his face. His face twisted into a small displeased grimace when his fingers brushed over the small crack in his fiber mask. It was the only one he had and he really wasn´t too keen on showing anyone his face just because his mask had cracked. Obviously, it had been worth saving Hikaku, but he still mourned for his fox mask.
It was what reminded him of Kurama, for as long as the fox was still resting.
Suddenly, the blonde perked up and his head lifted to look ahead on the road they were going. They had overcome the mountain pass already, and by now the edges of the village they were supposed to rest in could be seen already. Relief flooded through his body and he let a big grin slip onto his face.
Sensing the change in his mood, Izuna blinked and turned his head to his temporary comrade, eyebrows furrowed in question. Naruto paid no mind, didn´t even try to retain his progressively brighter chakra, and simply smiled ahead.
Finally, a secure place to rest.
.
The shinobi had been granted rooms for four people each per request. The daimyo was given their biggest room of the facility that had been cleared out for his visit, while the samurai were guarding the place. Being directly under the daimyo´s command, especially under a daimyo as ruthless and arrogant as he was, the poor samurai barely had any choice in any matter. Them being shinobi on the other hand allowed them to rest to a certain extent, though the daimyo strongly implied that he wanted them to rotate on guard duty as well.
Izuna and his team shared one room, but Naruto was pretty sure that Kasumi had a separate corner to herself that she could manually separate with big curtains. Akito and his team shared another. Naruto on the other hand got a room to himself, though it was, naturally, much smaller compared to what the others had.
Not that he complained.
Hell, Naruto had been living in a cave inside of a mountain on a makeshift bed ever since he had travelled back in time. Before that, he´d fought a restless war. Before that he had been pushed and sent around to avoid him of finding out about said war.
He would be a fool to complain now.
Shutting the door and absently putting a seal on it, Naruto grinned as he ripped off his mask and gently tossed it onto the small shelf in the corner of the room before letting himself flop onto the bed with bright laughter. Rolling onto his back, he allowed himself a moment to sink into the soft and fresh smelling sheets, as if he were on a cloud. His hair spread around his head like a halo and his arms were limply hanging at his sides, finally relaxing.
Blue eyes slid carefully shut as he focused on his body, specifically the wounds he had sustained.
The one on his side, where the kunai had embedded itself into his skin, was long healed. The one on his hand were the jagged stone of the cliff had dug into his skin was also healed. There was nothing more than a small path of dried blood that he had yet to wipe away.
Not one to lay still for too long, even when presented with rest after a taxing mission, Naruto only allowed himself a few minutes of laying down in the sheets before standing up to take off his armor and his undershirt in order to remove the bandages. The white fabric was itching against his skin and the wound was long healed, so Naruto saw no reason to let it remain there any longer.
The metallic mesh armor rustled as he shook it off before it fell to the floor with a dull thud. Right after, he pulled of the torn undershirt and regarded it with a critical eye. The sleeve was torn in some places and the side was completely ripped open, and since Naruto was a hopeless case when it came to sewing – he´d tried, believe him, but Naruto managed to stab himself with a needle twice. With every stitch he made. It didn´t necessarily hurt, but it was indeed annoying after a few hours of trying to sew his old clothes back together. Sewing might just be the only thing he´s ever given up on – he decided to just discard the shirt completely and take a new one from his storage seal, one he had thankfully decided to take with him just in case.
Just as he was about to take off the bandages, a knock sounded at his door and Naruto suppressed a groan.
A quick check of the signatures told him that it was Izuna and his squad.
The previous annoyance having vanished, Naruto frowned as he let his eyes wander to the door, thinking about what they might want. Had something happened? Did they need his assistance? Maybe they wanted him to set up some barriers as he had done with his own room, that was reasonable after all.
He sighed deeply and crouched down to take his armor and torn cloth to toss them on the chair instead of leaving them on the floor to at least give the illusion of being decently organized. With a flick of his wrist, a small amount of wind amassed in the room that swiftly carried his discarded mask from the shelf back into his outstretched hand, too lazy to reach out for it normally, and he put it on as he took a few strides to the door.
Right as the masked was put in its place, he swung the door open with a bright grin. In front of it stood the squad as he already felt, but this time they looked a little different. The weapons were mostly discarded, safe for maybe a weapon holster with a few kunai. The dual blades on Kasumi´s back were gone, as were the swords of the other three.
Whatever scrapes and wounds they might have gotten during the fight were now covered up with bandages and Band-Aids, though those were luckily spars on all of them.
The stinging scent of ointment burned in his sensitive noise as soon as the door swung open. It smelled of various medical herbs that Naruto didn´t even know the names to begin with, but he simply scrunched up his nose, doing the best to ignore the smell.
Their eyes immediately fell on him and it was only then that Naruto properly registered that he was wearing nothing but his pants and his bandages that he had been planning to take off just seconds ago. Talk about decency.
Naruto didn´t mind, since it didn’t bother him all too much. After a certain time simple things like nudity were things one became desensitized to as a shinobi, especially when it came to wounds. Naruto felt no shame in that, but he wasn´t sure how the others might react to it.
Well, too late to change that now.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Naruto leaned against the doorframe, shifting on his legs and letting his cerulean eyes wander over the group.
“Did you need something?” He asked lightly, tilting his head to the side like a curious fox, so very in his nature. It was a habit that Naruto wasn´t entirely sure where he´d gotten it from, but Sakura had called it endearing once, so he didn´t bother correcting it. Kurama had scoffed when he´d heard it, but Naruto was around ninety percent sure he´d heard him grumble something about it looking like he was a “fox kit”, so that was also a reason to just keep that habit.
From behind the other three, Kasumi makes somewhat the noise of a strangled cat and Naruto turns his head just in time to see her turning her head away with bright flushed ears to give him some sort of privacy, probably. Going by the waves in her chakra, she was indeed pretty flustered.
Izuna cleared his throat, gaining back his attention, and looked at him a little hesitantly. “You seem to be preoccupied.” It wasn´t a question, but Naruto had a feeling it was meant as one, trying to gauge whether it was okay for them to linger or not.
Naruto just shrugged. Judging by the fact that their chakra was still rather calm and there seemed to be nothing amiss, this wasn´t an emergency. If they came by just because of other reasons that took no immediate attention, Naruto didn´t mind either. Company was a nice thing after all. He rarely ever had it anymore, not like this.
Responding to Izuna´s statement, Naruto simply shook his head and stepped aside, motioning for them to come in.
“Please don´t mind me. I was in the middle of removing the bandages, so I look a little like a mess. You can come in, though, since it seems like you want to discuss something.”
The permission seemed to stir something in them, because all four of them moved, albeit a little hesitantly, to step inside his small room with a small nod of their head and a muttered “Excuse the intrusion.”
Specifically when Hikaku passed him, the young adult laid a hand on his shoulder, a frown on his face. “Should you be taking those off? Your injury –“
“Is already healed. Don´t worry too much, Hikaku-san,” Naruto interrupted him, gently prying the man´s hand off his shoulder and stepping aside to close the door once everyone was inside. Those words seemed to surprise most and their eyes immediately fell to his bandages, probably expecting to see them being soaked in red, or at least tinted a light pink from the blood. The bandages however were still relatively clean.
Naruto sighed as he stepped inside as well and tapped the seal on his arm. With a quick surge of chakra he pulled out a simple black jacket and threw in on to spare Kasumi the embarrassment that was still swirling in her chakra. He could feel a surge of surprise from Rasa at that.
“So these are the storage seals that Hikaku swooned over? They seem pretty useful.”
Naruto nodded before leaning against the wall on the other side of the bed where Rasa had sat down. Izuna and Hikaku were still standing next to the bed, lingering around and Kasumi had taken a similar stance to his, leaning against the wall on the other side of the bed next to Rasa.
“They are. I packed some spare clothes just in case for incidents like these and in the storage seal it´s no hassle to carry them. However,” his tone changed from a light one to something a little heavier and more meaningful. His head tilted forward and he regarded them through the slits of his Kitsune mask, blue eyes solely fixed on them,
“I´m pretty sure my storage seals aren´t the reason you´re here.”
The atmosphere in the room seemed to tense ever so slightly and all of them stilled as they watched Naruto. His stance was carefree and relaxed, but the tone in his voice and the look in his eyes meant business.
It was then that all eyes in the room turned to Izuna.
With his head held high and his chakra surging in pride, Izuna took a step forward, coming to halt before Naruto. Their eyes met and for a long moment there seemed to be nothing else but the dark eyes of the clan heir and the endless and vast sea of blue of Naruto. Neither looked away and Naruto was already half sure that this would be some sort of challenge or warning, but what came next surprised him.
Izuna inclined his head and closed his eyes in a sign of great respect and gratefulness.
Naruto, completely taken aback, blinked a few times and spluttered, intend on asking what this was about, but before he could the Uchiha clan heir spoke again.
“The Uchiha honor bravery, camaraderie and sacrifice. In the short time we´ve spent with one another, you have showcased each of these traits and even held out a hand to my clansmen when they needed one to take. When I couldn´t reach.” His voice was tinted with bitterness with that last sentence, but it quickly evened out once again as he continued to speak.
“Kitsune. All of those who have been witnesses to your actions today have come to officially see you and show you our gratitude. Not only for saving my cousin, but also for saving me from suffering from the poisoned weapons. I do not have a resistance to poison and would have likely suffered injuries that could have cost me my life.
I do not know who you are under the mask, but even so, I feel that there were no hidden intentions in what you have done.
So, as the clan heir of the Uchiha, I am in your debt and fully intend to repay you. It is only right, seeing as you have been nothing but kind and helpful to me and my clansmen.”
The Uchiha raised his head again, eyes hard and set on Naruto to look for his reaction. Likewise, the clan members behind him had also inclined their heads in respect and gratitude during his small speech.
A moment of complete silence passes where Naruto was rendered speechless.
Then, he laughed.
It was a bright laugh, happy and cheerful like the sound of bells. A genuine laughter that made the room brighten almost immediately and caused the tense silence to melt away like ice under the warm summer sun. Naruto´s hand reached for his mouth to try and muffle the sound, having been too late to control his reaction, but the effort was useless with the mask covering his face.
The Uchiha startled and looked at him, confusion ringing through each and every one of them.
“Is,” he gasped for a breath in between the laughs, trying desperately to form a sentence, “Is that why you´ve been so anxious the entire way here after the incident?”
He laughed again, oblivious to the blank and confused stares he got in return.
“Oh man, I´ve been trying to figure out why you were all hovering around me like that and were so careful to approach, but it turns out it´s just this?” Another laugh, and this time it seemed to be enough to snap Izuna and everyone else out of whatever trance they had fallen into, listening to the blonde´s full-hearted laughter.
With his face burning a bright red shade in absolute embarrassment, Izuna flailed with little to no grace, wide eyes fixed on Naruto. “You – why are you laughing? What´s so funny about this?!” Izuna would later on refuse to admit that his voice had been high pitched, like it was whenever Madara was being relentless in his teasing and it would end up with him being embarrassed in front of his family.
Or worse, the women he was trying to court.
In the back, Hikaku let out a chuckle at his clan heirs red face, now that the tension in the room had eased. Even Rasa seemed amused and barely able to contain his own laughter as the corner of his lips quirked upwards. Kasumi still seemed a little lost in the situation.
Naruto took a deep breath, trying to steady himself and waved a hand in dismissal, trying to calm Izuna as he gasped for air. “I´m not – trying to ridicule you, I swear. I was honestly just confused, thinking I might have overstepped or something. Hell if I know how to treat a clan heir, you know? But it turns out you´ve been anxious trying to form a speech to show your gratitude? That´s –“ he broke into quiet chuckles again, but it was no good. Izuna was as red as his flames and was spluttering and flailing at the unusual reaction.
Trying to save the poor man´s dignity, Naruto finally calmed down and explained.
His hand raked through his hair, brushing the strands back as he looked at Izuna, something soft in his eyes clear enough for all of them to see even with his mask on. “I told you, didn´t I? At the beginning of this mission I said that I hoped we could work well together. Right now, no matter how temporary or tentative, we´re comrades.”
Then, his hand dropped to his side and his eyes softened even more while his voice gained a hint of nostalgia, as well as determination and something so very unshakable.
“And knowing that, I was going to fight for you, no matter the situation. I don´t let my comrades die, Lord Izuna. It´s just the way I work. My nindo. I don´t expect your gratitude in return, because I would have done it for anyone else too.”
This was different than the situation with Shirogane. Back then, he´d done it for the favor it would earn him. Back then, Kane and his team hadn´t been comrades, barely even allies held together by a temporary truce.
Now this situation however was different. In this, Naruto had promised to work with them. Regardless of who they are, if they are his comrades, Naruto doesn´t let them die.
It just seemed so natural for him to do that that he didn´t even consider how big of a deal this might be for the others. He hadn´t expected someone like Izuna, or anyone of the Uchiha clan really, to take this so seriously and even ever so slightly lower their heads for him.
Naruto didn´t care much for etiquette, but even he knew that this was some big gesture for a clan heir. Something that not everyone got the chance to be on the receiving end of. Especially with the Uchiha, who are said to be prideful and graceful above everything else, this was a surprise.
Then again, Naruto mused as he watched Izuna flail still because of Naruto´s heartfelt and honest, but also odd and unusual reaction, as prideful as they might be, Izuna could sometimes be a little less than graceful.
“I think,” and this was Hikaku taking over, taking a step forward and coming to a standstill next to his cousin, a smile on his face, “What our honorable clan heir was trying to say is that the Uchiha take things like debts and honor very seriously. Regardless of whether or not it is just the way you work, as you said, we want to repay you for your kindness. It is only right. You saved my life and Izuna´s after all.”
His stepping in gave Izuna enough time to try and regain his composure, even if a slight flush was still on his face.
Rasa spoke up, eyebrow quirked in interest as he leveled Naruto with an even gaze, like he was trying to solve a puzzle. In that moment, Rasa reminded him a little bit too much of a Nara. “Though I´m surprised. Most would have jumped at the chance to use that favor. Not everyone manages to have the Uchiha indebted to them after all.”
“Rasa!” Kasumi chided, elbowing the man in the side, “Show some tact, seriously.”
The man looked entirely unapologetic.
Naruto just shrugged and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “It´s not like I don´t appreciate it. Don´t misunderstand, if you offer, I´m definitely going to take you up on that favor, but I just want to say that you shouldn´t feel like you have to do this. It was my choice and I´d do it again.”
That seemed to stir something in Kasumi to Naruto´s utter surprise, because she threateningly pointed a finger at him, face pulled into a frown. “Don´t even start, Kitsune! I´m starting to think you have no self-preservation instincts!”
What?
“Excuse you? I have plenty self-preservation instincts!” Naruto did not pout, thank you very much. He did cross his arms in front of his chest though, slightly insulted at that.
Hikaku that brat rolled his eyes at him before lifting a judgmental eyebrow. “Right. Because jumping down a cliffside is proof of that.”
Huffing, Naruto turned his head to the side, at this point humoring them, but the small childish child in him that hadn´t played and bantered around like this in a long time, too long for his liking, was secretly enjoying it, so he couldn´t help it when under his mask a smile graced his lips.
“I´ll have you know I knew exactly what I was doing, thank you very much.”
And finally, after having gotten over his previous embarrassment, Izuna decided to add his own dry comment, lifting in eyebrow in similar fashion. In that moment, he looked very much like Sasuke whenever Naruto had done something stupid that he had to suffer the aftermath from, together with Naruto of course. Because whatever shit the blonde got into, Sasuke would get dragged into it as well.
“Did you also know what you were doing when you took a poisoned kunai?”
Naruto deadpans, “Obviously,” before faltering a little.
Actually, in hindsight, Naruto wasn´t sure whether or not Kurama could have healed the poison, seeing as he was out of commission. There was indeed a risk that Naruto might have suffered from it.
He would have healed, no doubt about that, but it might have just taken longer than what it did.
Once Izuna sensed his hesitation he leveled the blonde with a deadpan stare making Naruto hid a wince and sheepishly look away. “Alright, maybe. But I´m resistant to most poisons, I swear! What are the chances that I´d actually die from that?”
“That´s what I mean when I say no self-preservation instincts!” Kasumi groaned, exasperated, making Rasa grin, “Resistant to most poisons, he says. What are the chances, he asks. Then proceeds to take it knowing it might kill him.”
“How do you even know you´re resistant to poison?” There was an underlying hint of worry and caution in Hikaku´s tone of voice and Naruto saw the way Izuna momentarily stiffened. Rasa´s mood suddenly seemed to darken, as did Kasumi´s.
Naruto, noticing but not understanding the shift of mood, shrugged. “I tested it out after accidentally eating berries on a mission that were poisonous. My friends freaked out when they saw, but I was fine. After that, I just… I don´t know, tried out what would and wouldn´t work.” He shrugged again, not minding their absolutely dumbstruck expressions.
“Also, I have been poisoned pretty often to be honest. I did suffer some backlash, but it never actually killed me. I just went with it.”
A moment of absolute silence passed before –
“You might really just be an idiot.”
Naruto bristled. “Would you lot stop insulting me like that! Where´s the gratitude and respect from literally minutes ago!”
.
Everything was so…
Light-hearted.
They kept making conversation after that. Just talking about random things and occasionally asking Naruto if he was really alright. Kasumi took of his bandages and checked the wound, satisfied to know it was gone. Hikaku and him had talked about seals a bit more while the others were intently listening, even if they weren´t understanding a word of it. Rasa was surprisingly snarky when he wasn´t absent during conversation and with his mind and interest somewhere else. And Izuna –
Well, Naruto finally confirmed that he and Sasuke were indeed two very different people.
Izuna was prideful and proud, of his heritage, of his skill and whatnot. But sometimes, he was also a little bit of a brat, Naruto almost called him that. Flailing a lot and getting flustered easily eventhough he managed to hide it well. Snarky and sarcastic, but he knew his limits well and knew when to not cross a line.
They´d sat together and just talked. Naruto eventually ended up even telling some things about himself.
Of course, nothing that gave them any information on who he was or where he has come from, but some stories about team seven during their younger days, or missions he enjoyed during his time with pervy-sage.
No names were given and the Uchiha were tactful enough to not pry when they felt Naruto was getting hesitant. It was a mutual respect they had given each other. Neither would pry if the other wished for them not to.
Nighttime came and the four of them returned to rest. Hikaku had offered to stay with him during the night to make sure the poison had no lasting effects, as well as to make sure Naruto actually rested and didn´t stay up like he did during their other breaks, but Naruto politely declined, arguing that the young adult was likely tired himself and should rest in his own room with his own comrades.
When the morning came the next day and the escort prepared to leave once again, Naruto couldn´t help but smile as they set off.
He started this mission with tentative allies.
He´s leaving this place with tentative friends.