eight
“Today we are going to learn ninjutsu.”
Naruto huffed, rolling his eyes.
“This is bullying,” he said without heat. “You and Gai-sensei are ganging up on me.”
“I don’t think trying to teach you techniques that will make you a stronger and more effective shinobi counts as bullying,” Kakashi eye-smiled, long used to Naruto’s opinions on the topic.
“Yeah, yeah,” Naruto waved off his words.
He stretched his arms over his head, feeling the pleasant pulling on his back muscles. Things had gotten much better since he’d been switched to guard duty with Gai-sensei. They’d kept most of their already established routine although they’d had to switch things around a bit depending on the time of the shifts. They still started at five in the morning unless they had nightshift and Gai made sure they fit physical conditioning, chakra control and weapon handling into their day somewhere.
He’d been talking about ninjutsu since Naruto first started learning chakra control and he should have known better than to think Gai-sensei would give up on something. Naruto knew they had a point about the whole thing but he just didn’t feel as involved with the fight when using techniques. There was a lack of accomplishment and satisfaction to watch the opponent fall from some flood or a ball of earth.
“I think doton would slow you down,” Kakashi drew his attention back to him. “Suiton depends too much on a water supply and fūton is the most difficult if there is no affinity for it. Katon or raiton then.”
Naruto perked up a bit.
“I vote for katon.”
He just looked innocently back at Kakashi as the jounin scrutinised him. He knows that he’d been pretty resistant to this but the thought of setting fire to stuff made him smile in a way he hadn’t expected. It’d be probably best if he didn’t give that as a reason to Gai-sensei and Kakashi though.
“Katon it is then,” Kakashi nodded, planting his feet firmly to face Naruto and motioning for him to do the same.
Naruto faced the jounin and watched him with determined eyes.
“Snake, Ram, Monkey, Tiger, Dragon, Ox, Dog, Dragon,” Kakashi ran through the seals slowly and Naruto copied him. “I want you to keep going through those without chakra until you can do it without thinking.”
“What’s the point of practising without chakra?” Naruto asked as he ran through the seals again to commit them to memory.
“What’s the point of learning the jutsu if you’re too slow to use it in a fight?” Kakashi countered and Naruto grumbled to himself.
The man had a point. Hand seals weren’t his strong point and it would take time for him to get used to them.
“This jutsu is called Katon: Engeki and it’ll coat your fists in fire,” Kakashi continued. “It’ll cover your opponent in fire if you land a hit but if you mess up the seals, that flame will be turned towards you.”
“Fine, you’ve made your point,” Naruto admitted. “I’ll practice.”
“You’re such a good little genin,” Kakashi stepped forward and ruffled his hair.
Naruto wacked his hand away and sent him a warning look. He liked Kakashi but it was a matter of principle. He continued to run through the seals, pointedly ignoring Kakashi’s dark eye observing him.
“So I’ve heard a little rumour going around the village.”
Naruto rolled his eyes but continued to remain silent.
“The Last Uchiha has been asking around about you,” Kakashi said, amused. “Did you make a friend?”
Naruto resisted the instinct to tell the jounin not to use that title. He could still remember how Sasuke had flinched when he’d said it to his face and although he was not trying to do anyone any favours, Naruto wasn’t that fond of some of his own ‘titles’ that the village had bestowed upon him. However, that would give Kakashi the wrong idea. He’d been managing to avoid the academy student since their last meeting on the rooftop and he would not have Kakashi’s tendency to meddle break that streak.
“I’ve never heard of him.”
He looked up and met Kakashi’s eye, refusing to blink or twitch. Kakashi watched him, tilting his head.
“Really?” The jounin asked, not even trying to conceal the amusement in his tone. “You haven’t heard of the only other kid in the village as infamous as you?”
“Nope,” Naruto looked back down at his hands as he ran through the seals once again.
He didn’t need friends, no matter how much the adults in his life liked to tell him otherwise.
“I’m going to try it, out,” he announced suddenly, hoping Kakashi would take the bait and quite bugging him about this. “Katon: Engeki!”
His fists lit up in a burst of flames and he grinned. Okay, so maybe when Gai-sensei brought up learning more ninjutsu in the future he wouldn’t be so quick to argue. He waved his hands around a bit, watching the orange flames trail after them. Punching someone in the face was going to be so much more effective this way.
“Naruto, what did I just say about practising?” Kakashi’s exasperated voice broke Naruto out of his fascination.
“I did practice and now I’m doing it,” he grinned cheekily.
He heard Kakashi’s quiet sigh and his grin widened. He may like the jounin but it wasn’t going to stop him from annoying the hell out of the man. It didn’t work on Gai-sensei; the man was way too cheerful and dense to appreciate Naruto’s wit. He had to keep someone on their toes.
Gai knocked on the window of his student’s apartment, sliding it open a second later. He hopped into the room, dumping his full backpack onto the worn wooden floor.
“Good morning, Naruto-kun!”
A groan emerged from the lump on the bed. A blond head popped out of the mess of orange blankets, blue eyes blearily glaring at him.
“What the fuck, Gai-sensei?” his student swore, his voice thick with sleep.
“Now, now, Naruto-kun, there is no need for such unyouthful words on this bright and wonderful morning!” Gai grinned, which only prompted another groan from his student.
“Gai-sensei,” Naruto finally emerged, sitting up to stare deadpan at Gai. “We finished a twelve hour patrol…” he paused to grab the old alarm clock sitting on the floor next to the bed, “three hours and forty-seven minutes ago. We are supposed to be meeting in…”
Naruto’s face scrunched as he ran the numbers. His student’s mathematical ability tended to suffer in the mornings. It was only in times like this where Gai could actually see how young his student really was; before he had a chance to put on his mask for the village. He was so mature and serious with a dry wit beyond his years; Gai admired that in his student, it was so much like his rival, but a part of him didn’t like that he’d been forced to grow up so quickly.
Gai was here for him, though; he would help his student reconnect with his Youth so he could live as bright and happy as Gai knew he could. Naruto was in the Springtime of his Youth and it was Gai’s job go make sure that he blossomed into the best version of himself.
“…seven hours and thirteen minutes. Why are you here?”
Gai excitedly grabbed his bag from the floor and moved it onto the coffee table.
“It’s your birthday, Naruto-kun! I could not wait to give you your gift!”
Something other than tired annoyance broke through his student’s expression and Gai saw a hint of surprise before it was quickly covered up.
“You got me something?” He asked, swinging his bare feet off the bed.
“Of course!” Gai grinned as Naruto finally stood, his loose orange shirt hanging over his loose black shorts. “It is not every year that you turn ten! Your birthday deserves to be celebrated!”
Naruto walked over slowly, peering down at the green bag suspiciously.
“The bag is for you too,” Gai told him brightly, bouncing in place as he stopped himself from shoving the bag towards him. “I noticed that yours sustained some damage on our last mission. The rest of your gift is inside.”
A small smile appeared on Naruto’s face as he carefully opened the flap on the bag. He reached in and lifted one of the weights out, examining it curiously.
“Weights?”
“There is a variety and I will go through each of them with you!” Gai gushed excitedly. “Some of them you will need to grow into as we do not want to stunt your growth by going too heavy too soon, but you can apply them to your physical conditioning and your taijutsu. It will improve your speed immensely and add power to your attacks which are the areas we are focusing on!”
Naruto turned over the wrist weights in his hands, his expression the most unguarded that Gai had ever seen.
“Thanks, Gai-sensei,” he said quietly. “I’ve never had a present before. I mean, Teuchi-jiisan gives me free ramen but he does that when it’s not my birthday.”
Gai’s grin dropped slightly at the admission but he quickly gathered himself.
“Well, Naruto-kun, you will have to get used to it as my student!”
Naruto reverently placed the weight back in the bag, closing it over delicately.
“I also came to tell you to take the rest of the day off!” Gai continued brightly. “You should enjoy your birthday! There should be a lot for you to do with the festival on!”
Naruto’s demeanour quickly dropped at his words.
“I’d rather just train, Gai-sensei.”
“Nonsense, Naruto-kun, you should explore the Springtime of your Youth and partake in the festivities!”
Naruto crossed his arms, looking away from Gai.
“I don’t go to the festival,” he said shortly.
Gai wanted to push his student but in the ten months since the young blond had become his apprentice, he had learned to recognise certain cues. Kakashi would say that Gai had finally learnt some restraint but Gai knew Naruto was not like other genin. He needed patience and while even Gai would admit it was not his strong suit, he had to be better for Naruto’s sake. Taking on a student had changed Gai more than he thought it ever would and through his mistakes, he’d learned that sometimes taking a step back was the best decision to support his student. However much it made him uncomfortable with how much he wanted to do the opposite.
“I will see you at the training ground at the appointed time then!” He threw thumbs up at his student, smiling brightly. “If you bring the blue weights, we can get started on your new taijutsu training!”
Naruto nodded gratefully and Gai clambered back out the window, waving energetically before making his way to the ground. He had not made much progress in getting his student to unbolt his front door, but he felt that they were still taking steps forward. They were smaller than he imagined when he had first been assigned Naruto as an apprentice but forward nonetheless. His student would be flourishing in his Youth soon enough and Gai was excited to go on that journey with him.
In the meantime, he should find Kakashi and see if his rival was up for a challenge.
Naruto hefted the wooden cabinet further up into his arms to prevent it slipping. The festival had finally ended in the early hours of the morning so he’d taken the opportunity to go ‘shopping’ while the streets were mostly empty; by shopping, he meant dumpster diving and scavenging perfectly good pieces of furniture people were stupidly throwing away. Most of the villagers were still hung-over so they wouldn’t be awake to bother him for another couple of hours.
Gai had surprised him. He’d never expected a present from his teacher; no one ever got him gifts. He hadn’t even known that’s what it was until Gai had said it. It made him feel warm in a way he’d never quite felt before and he didn’t know what to do with that feeling. He’d managed to avoid thinking too deeply about it by throwing himself wholeheartedly into his new weight training but the warmth crept up on him every time he looked at the collection of shiny weights sitting neatly in the corner of his room.
And now he had a place to store them! Someone had thrown away an oak cabinet and Naruto hadn’t hesitated to start dragging it home. It had five shelves and stood just a bit taller than Naruto himself. Two of the shelves were a bit wonky and he was pretty sure it was supposed to have doors but it was good enough for him. He could even fit his clothes on one of the shelves with his weapons and weights occupying the rest.
The only issue had been taking it back to his apartment. He’d done enough physical conditioning with Gai for the weight of the thing to not be a problem but it was the size that was causing Naruto some trouble. He knew he was pretty short for his age and the cabinet was taller than him and wider than his wingspan. It had taken some adjusting and he’d had to forego the rooftops, but he was almost there.
“Do you need any help?”
Naruto scowled as he continued walking. People were supposed to be asleep, not out here bothering him.
“Here, I can help.”
Naruto was forced to stop as a boy stepped in front of him. He placed the cabinet on the ground as he glared at the obstacle in his path. He was taller than Naruto by a fair bit, with long black hair tied back into a braid. A short tan kimono was wrapped around him and round, dark eyes looked back at him eagerly. He couldn’t have been much older than Naruto and he could see signs of training; an academy student then.
“No,” he said shortly, hoping the boy would pick up the hint.
“Oh,” his expression dropped a bit.
Naruto took that as his cue to leave and grabbed the cabinet. He didn’t even have the chance to pick it up when a chunk of wood fell off, causing him to lose his grip on the whole thing. It clattered to the ground and dislodged the two dodgy shelves. Naruto had to take a minute to breathe; yelling swears might wake the rest of the village up.
“Are you sure you don’t need help?”
“Shouldn’t you be training or something rather than hanging about here bothering me?” he snapped.
The boy actually took a step back before he looked away.
“I’m not going to pass anyway,” he said quietly and Naruto rolled his eyes.
“That sounds like a ‘you’ problem,” he retorted. “Go and train or something instead of moping about it.”
“You don’t understand!” The boy cried. “I can’t use chakra; I’ll never pass the exam!”
Naruto resisted the urge to face palm.
“You were never going to pass anyway with that shitty attitude,” he snapped, patience wearing thin. “The only thing stopping you from passing is you, so you need to take your finger out of your ass and figure it out. So what if you don’t have chakra? That ain’t no reason to give up; learn weapons or taijutsu or something that doesn’t use chakra. Fuck’s sake.”
He scooped up the fallen pieces of wood and grabbed the cabinet with his other arm, annoyance and the urge to get far, far away from this moping idiot fuelling his strength. Naruto had to work three times harder than everyone else but he did it. He graduated and showed everyone who didn’t think he could do it where to shove it. This boy probably didn’t even having people trying to sabotage him and he wanted to complain about how hard it was?
He stomped down the street, completely missing the way the other boy’s eyes followed him with wonder.
Sasuke sat in the training ground, legs crossed and chin propped up on one hand. He was supposed to be training but the puzzle that was one Uzumaki Naruto was occupying too much of his thoughts for him to concentrate.
He hadn’t anticipated much resistance when he’d started his investigation. Since he’d lost his family, everyone in the village had fallen over themselves to offer what empty promises and pointless assistance they thought would get them into his good books. He’d never accepted any of it. None of it would change what happened and Sasuke knew that they didn’t really do it for him; anyone who would have survived Itachi would have probably gotten the same treatment. No one cared about Sasuke; they only cared about the Uchiha.
That was why it had been almost refreshing to encounter someone like Naruto. He looked at him and saw Sasuke; it was infuriating in equal measures as the other boy refused to take him seriously. Naruto had a way of getting under his skin in a way no one else in the village had and they’d only met a few times. They would probably end up fighting when Sasuke tracked him down again but that only made him want to find him faster. No one brushed off Sasuke.
So he’d begun his quest to find out more about the blond…and had almost immediately encountered a wall. No one would talk and Sasuke knew for a damn fact that they knew what he was talking about. It was like no one wanted to acknowledge Naruto existed but Sasuke had seen the way they would talk about him when they thought he had left the vicinity. They knew who Naruto was and what’s more, they hated him. Sasuke had then started just eavesdropping since asking them directly was getting him nowhere.
‘Demon’ was the most common insult although Sasuke heard plenty more. The venom with which the villagers talked about the boy was startling and yet not a single one had outright said the reason why they all hated him. He’d found out about some of the pranks the blond had played but that shouldn’t have been enough to prompt this level of anger. The shinobi population were a lot more ambivalent but Sasuke suspected they knew he was there so who knows what they actually thought.
He had managed to find out that he was apprenticed to some jounin named ‘Maito Gai’. Sasuke had never heard of him but he did know how weird it was for a newly graduated genin to get apprenticed rather than put into the usual team of three. The genin from his graduating class were more than happy to tell Sasuke about how Naruto had been the dead-last and terrible at anything chakra-related. When he’d pressed to find out how he’d passed they’d suddenly clammed up. Apparently saying anything remotely positive about Naruto was too much for them to handle.
Sasuke scoffed and rose to his feet, brushing off his pants. He’d only managed to find more questions than answers about the genin. He understood the comment he’d made about knowing what it was like to be gossiped about a lot better but Sasuke still didn’t know why the village talked about Naruto like that. He couldn't think of anything that Naruto could have done to make a whole village turn against someone his age so strongly. It didn’t seem fair.
He still wanted to fight the other boy. Whatever the villager wanted to think wasn’t Sasuke’s problem. Someone who graduated early was exactly the sort of rival Sasuke needed to get stronger. Itachi was still out there and he was only falling further behind. The academy didn’t challenge him but he knew Naruto would. He had one mission in life and that was to kill his brother; he didn’t care what it took to get there. He would find Naruto again and make him fight so Sasuke could get stronger.
He had to get stronger.