nine
Gai stood next to his student before the Hokage, trying not to give away his excitement to his observant apprentice. Naruto would be delighted and Gai knew he was ready; his genin had truly blossomed since his graduation and his Youth was shining bright.
“We’re just waiting on the other team,” the Hokage said calmly, shuffling scrolls on his desk.
So maybe Naruto would not be delighted, but the prospect of leaving the village should outweigh his feelings about this genin team. It was agreed between himself, the Hokage and the other jounin-sensei that this would be good for all their students. Konoha was not a place where animosity could exist between fellow shinobi; this mission may help to break down the barriers between Naruto and his former classmates. His student had to be prepared to work with anyone and the same applied for the other genin. That was what made the Will of Fire so strong.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting, Hokage-sama,” a voice spoke up from the door behind them and Gai turned to smile brightly at Hayama.
He watched the other jounin shuffled his three genin into a line next to them and he could physically feel Naruto tense up at his side. He resisted the urge to clap his genin on his shoulder in comfort. He also could not help but note that the three genin looked as unhappy at this as his own.
“Now we are all here, we can get started,” the Hokage announced, handing a scroll over to Hayama. “This is your first C-rank for both teams so in the interest of safety, we are combining your teams for this mission. I understand there has been some tension between your teams in the past but that is irrelevant now. You are shinobi of Konoha and I expect you to uphold that standard. Do you understand?”
There was a chorus of ‘Yes, Hokage-sama’ from Team Five but Naruto just nodded.
“You are to deliver that letter to the Daiymo’s palace,” the Sandaime continued. “It is a standard delivery mission. Hand it to a member of the administrative team at the palace and return with their reply. There is no truly sensitive information enclosed, however, if you are ambushed and feel that you cannot defend it, destroy the letter. I do not expect you to run into this problem on a C-rank.”
Gai nodded at the underlying message.
“Your sensei will report on your conduct and efficiency during this mission,” the Hokage added with a stern glint in his dark eyes. “How this mission goes will weigh heavily in future assignments.”
There was a weighted silence before the man sat back in his chair.
“You are free to go.”
Gai bowed and left the office, Naruto trailing close behind. The minute the door shut, Naruto turned to him, arms crossed and expression sour.
“Is he serious?”
Before Gai could reply, one of the other genin spoke up.
“If you can’t control yourself, then maybe you should stay in the village,” the taller male genin said snidely.
“Like you’re ready, Kichi-teme,” Naruto smirked with a cruel twist Gai had never seen from his student. “Last I recall you pissed yourself when you thought you were under attack.”
The other genin turned a shade of purple but before they could continue, Hayama stepped in.
“Kichirou, that’s enough. This is exactly what cannot happen when we leave the village,” he said sternly. “Ren, Midori, I also expect better of you. You are shinobi of Konoha and need to act like it whoever you’re working with.”
Gai grinned brightly.
“I could not have said it better myself, Hayama-kun!” He proclaimed cheerfully, patting Naruto heavily on the back. “This is a wonderful opportunity for the genin to allow the Springtime of their Youth to blossom for all the world to see! The bonds between comrades will strengthen and the Will of Fire will burn brighter than ever!”
“If you say so, Gai,” Hayama grinned weakly back at him. “Should we meet at the front gate in an hour?”
Gai threw double thumbs up in response and Team Five left, leaving Gai with his apprentice.
“You finally get to leave the village, Naruto-kun! You can see the world!” Gai pointed out brightly, and the tension in Naruto’s shoulder that had been present since they saw Team Five finally started to dissipate.
“Yeah, I guess I do.” It was not quite a smile but Gai knew by now how to read his apprentice. “So gate in thirty?”
“We have an hour, Naruto-kun.”
“I am not taking the chance that they’ll leave without us and say we were late,” Naruto scoffed, starting to walk down the hall. “I’ll work with them, Gai-sensei, but Jiji didn’t say I had to trust them.”
Gai followed after his student. Naruto’s Youth really was blossoming wonderfully; six months ago he would not have even considered working with Team Five. He was making progress and Gai could barely keep himself from telling the whole village how proud he was. His student was ready for this.
Naruto bounced along the road, the looming walls of the Capital inching closer with every step. It had been an uneventful journey so far and his former classmates were just as happy to avoid him as he was them. Naruto opted to take up a position at the back of their formation and he hadn’t allowed them out of his sight. They were probably scheming something and while he had faith in his ability to deal with whatever feeble attempt they may make, he was outnumbered. He didn’t like being outnumbered.
He’d handled his own meals and had refused the offer from their jounin-sensei to join them for dinner. Gai had tried to encourage him but Naruto had managed to get away by offering to take the first watch. He hadn’t exactly slept when the other genin had been on watch but he had never needed much sleep. One of the perks of the damn fox he supposed.
The most important thing was that he was out of the village. He breathed in deeply; somehow the air felt different here. Better, fresher. He didn’t have to keep watch for disgruntled civilians. The people they had seen on their journey here had looked at them but not at him. No one cared who he was out here. He had imagining what the world was like outside of Konoha almost his whole life and he had to say that it was better than he imagined…mainly because he hadn’t really had a reference to imagine from but still. This was great. Not even Team Five could ruin this for him.
The walls of the capital loomed ever closer and Naruto let his eyes trail over the high stone walls. He could see what must be the palace peeking over the top of it in the distance somewhere. The trees on either side of the road that led to the city gates had started to thin out but were still thick enough that Naruto sometimes felt like they should have been named the Land of Trees rather than the Land of Fire. Traffic had picked up and civilians bustled around them, some alone, some with a group and a lot with various animals.
They finally reached the gates and Naruto hung back as Gai and Hayama spoke to the guards. He threw a filthy look at Kichi-teme as the other genin muttered ‘I’ll be surprised if they let the demon in’.
They were all ushered in soon enough and Naruto coughed as a wall of unfamiliar smells slammed into his sensitive nose. Some were familiar, he’d encountered them at the markets back in Konoha, but there were many that weren’t. There were a lot more people and stands and colour and noise and Naruto just stood there, taking it all in. This was amazing. He knew there was more out there but to be confronted with it, to realise just how much there could be, he never wanted to go back. If this place was this cool, then what would he see if he actually left the country?
Not only that, but no one knew who he was. Not a single person in the street in front of them turned to look in their direction. As they started to walk further into the city, the people that did catch his eye didn’t give him a second glance. Was this what it was like to be normal? Did other kids his age get to feel like this all the time?
“I miss Konoha already,” Ren muttered beneath his breath. “There are way too many people here.”
“Yeah, it feels like it would be so easy to get lost here,” Midori added quietly.
Naruto threw them an incredulous look. That was the best part! He turned to Gai and smiled wide, genuine in a way that he hadn’t felt in years.
“Thanks for this mission, Gai-sensei,” he beamed. His blue eyes were immediately drawn back to the bustling crowds so he missed Gai’s look of surprise.
“No problem, Naruto-kun!” His teacher clapped him on the shoulder. “It is wonderful to see your Youth shine so brightly in a new place!”
Naruto was so busy taking in his surroundings he didn’t acknowledge his sensei’s words. He also ignored Team Five’s unimpressed looks in his direction. They’d walked a far bit into the city, heading in the direction of the massive palace in the distance when Naruto’s sensitive ears picked up a commotion. He wandered off in that direction until he found the source. He frowned as he spotted three teenagers hassling an elderly vendor. The crowd around them was happy to just walk by and ignore the situation.
At least this was familiar. There had been many a time that the villagers of Konoha would look away from his own mistreatment, oftentimes at the hands of people that looked exactly like these boys. The sight boiled his blood and popped his happy bubble. People were still shit no matter where he was then. He couldn’t stop himself from moving forward to stop one of the boy’s fists from smashing more of the vendor’s stuff.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” The boy snarled, dark eyes glaring down at Naruto. “It isn’t your place to intervene. Do you know who I am?”
Naruto hated that phrase. ‘His place’. Everyone seemed to be of the opinion that his fucking place was below theirs and apparently there was nothing he could do about it. He personally thought they could shove that idea up their entitled asses.
“A shithead,” he answered the boy’s question and shoved him back, forcing the older teen to stumble. He crossed his arms as he glared at the trio. “Fuck off and leave the old man alone. Haven’t you got anything better to do?”
He was pretty sure they were civilians so he wasn’t allowed to do any real damage to them, but fortunately they were easy to scare. This is one of those times wearing his hitai-ate would have been handy.
“Naruto-kun!”
Gai came around the corner and Naruto smirked at the trio of dickheads as they spotted the hitai-ate around his teacher’s waist. He watched the leader debate within himself, before taking the coward’s route.
“This isn’t over!” He snarled. “I am going to tell my father all about the abuse I suffered at the hands of Konoha shinobi.”
He shoved his two accomplices back and they soon disappeared into the crowd. Gai walked over to join him with a big bushy eyebrow raised. Naruto feigned ignorance and turned back to the vendor, picking up his wares from where they had been scattered.
“Thank you, young shinobi,” the man smiled at him. “They like to cause trouble around this neighbourhood. Their fathers are nobility so there is little we can do about it. You have a kind heart.”
Naruto smiled weakly, unsure whether he should tell the man the real reason he came to help. It was more that he wanted to spite the bullies rather than help the victim. He would not be making a habit of helping strangers; he had too many problems of his own.
“My wonderful apprentice has a heart of gold!” Gai grinned brightly, holding out a thumbs up. “He is a wonderful example of Youth and he is blooming majestically for the whole world to see!”
Naruto resisted the urge to face palm. He translated that statement to know that Gai was happy with his actions by why couldn’t the jounin ever just say things without using the word youth?
“I am Arata Taichi,” the vendor introduced himself, bowing his head.
“I am Maito Gai, Konoha’s Sublime Green Beast of Prey!” His teacher posed proudly. “This is my young apprentice, Uzumaki Naruto!”
Naruto rolled his eyes and shoved the last of the stuff onto the table before hooking his teacher’s elbow.
“Come on, Gai-sensei, the Daimyo is expecting us and Team Five is totally going to ditch us. Later, Arata-san.”
He threw a half-hearted wave behind him, missing the man’s reaction to the name Uzumaki.
Naruto tried not to fidget as they waited for the Daimyo to arrive. Gai kept looking at him with proud tears in his eyes and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could take it. He had half a mind to go out and kick a puppy or something to make his teacher stop looking at him like that.
“Welcome, Konoha,” a man said as he entered from a side door, moving to take a seat on the Daimyo’s seat. “I believe you have something for me.”
Hayama stepped forward to hand over the letter, head bowed. Naruto observed the leader of their country. He wasn’t much. He was old like Jiji with small, hooded eyes and a thin mouth. The rest of his head was covered with a black cloth, with a white fan resting on top of his head pointing towards the ceiling. Naruto wondered how they stopped that from falling off. What if he bent over to pick something up? Did the Daimyo even pick things up from the floor?
His trail of thought had apparently caused him to miss the Daimyo actually reading the letter. The man folded it up carefully.
“Tell the Hokage, I agree.”
Naruto blinked. Was that it? What was even the question? He hadn’t expected anything too important since it was only a C-rank mission but they came all the way here for just a ‘yes’? Naruto shrugged off those thoughts easily enough; any reason to leave Konoha was a good reason in his book.
He followed Hayama’s and Gai’s example and bowed low to the man, making their way back to door behind them. Apparently it was rude to turn your back on the Daimyo. Naruto thought it was a dumb rule but adults had loads of dumb rules. What was one more? The massive doors closed and they were lead to the entrance of the palace.
“We’ll head back tomorrow morning, but you have the afternoon to explore the city a bit,” Hayama said. “I trust you to stay safe and make good decisions. I don’t want any incidents.”
For some reason he looked directly at Naruto when he said that.
“The Capital should be relatively safe for you but keep an eye out anyway. I expect you back at these gates at sundown, okay?”
Team Five chorused their understanding while Naruto looked Gai. His jounin-sensei gave him a thumbs up.
“You have earned this, Naruto-kun!” He grinned. “Enjoy the full potential of your Youth and live with no regrets!”
Naruto rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the fond smile as he turned away from his sensei to head into the city. Team Five walked along with them and Naruto resisted the urge to fuck off; he could stand their presence until they were out of Gai’s sight. He could do this for Gai.
“Hey, why is your jounin-sensei so fucking trashy?”
They had just turned out of sight of their teachers and Kichi-teme opens his big fucking mouth.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Naruto narrows his eyes.
“I mean, I knew your jounin-sensei had to be garbage,” sneered the older boy. “Why else would they give him you after all, but seriously? Is he sick in the head or something?”
“Gai-sensei is one of the best jounin in the whole village,” Naruto hissed venomously.
“Yeah, but that spandex? The haircut? The whole spiels about Youth? There is something wrong with him,” Ren added gleefully. “He’s perfect for you. No other student could stand him long enough to learn anything.”
Naruto stopped, feeling his nails dig into his palms. He could take them talking shit about him; well, maybe not take it, as he had proven before with his pranks but he knew how to deal with it. It was expected. He had not expected them to go after Gai-sensei. Gai didn’t deserve for people to talk shit about him. He…he liked Naruto. He was proud of Naruto. He didn’t try to change him or get at him for being a little brat he just…accepted him. No one had ever done that before.
“You really think that putting people down is going to get you anywhere?” he said quietly, drawing the attention of the genin. He continued before Kichi-teme could interrupt him. “You really think you’re going to be anything?”
He glared at them, the words spilling past his lips like poison.
“Yeah, I am the demon brat, but guess what? I fucking matter,” he took a step forward. “I am going to be remembered. I am going to be someone. Not because things were handed to me but because I grabbed them with my own two hands. I am going to build my future into one that I can be proud of! What the fuck are you going to be? None of you are going to make it past chunin; the best you can hope for is to become one of the hundreds of faceless chunins, and either die for the village or fade into obscurity.”
His volume rose.
“You don’t even work hard! You will never be jounin because that would mean stepping outside your fucking comfort zone! You are going to go through the rest of your life being only good enough. You are never going to matter. You are going to live your little lives and pass from this world with nothing more than a whimper.”
He hadn’t noticed when he’d stepped into their faces. He didn’t notice how pale they had become. All he could feel was the indignation, the rage.
“So yeah, you can make fun of me. You can make fun of Gai-sensei. You can feel really fucking good about yourselves because that is only for right now. You know, deep fucking down, that I am going to leave you and the rest of our godforsaken class in the fucking dirt. You know that we were never the fucking same; I was born to be great and you were born to be my fucking back story.”
He turned on his heel, unable to look at their faces for a second longer. He stomped his way through the city street, the crowd parting for him. He didn’t even know where he was going, just away from them. Why did it have to be so hard just to be himself? Why couldn’t people just leave him alone? All he wanted was to just live without people feeling like they had to shit on him to make themselves feel good. Why was that so hard?
“You’re the Uzumaki!”
He stopped short as he looked up from the road to see the vendor from earlier that day.
“Um, Arata-san?”
The man’s green eyes sparkled as he ushered Naruto to follow him. Naruto was too surprised to anything but follow.
“I have been waiting around the Daimyo’s residence for you,” the man said, his cane clacking against the stone below them. “I couldn’t allow you to leave the Capital without speaking to you first.”
“Arata-san, you don’t have to. I didn’t really help you,” Naruto tried to tell him but the old man wasn’t having it.
“Hush now child, and just follow me. You are an Uzumaki, correct? Which parent?”
“My mom?” Naruto answered hesitantly.
“Excellent, excellent,” Arata said as they finally came back to his stall. “I have something that belongs to you.”
Naruto had no idea what this man was talking about. He didn’t lose anything in the capital for it to be returned to him. His green backpack had been firmly closed the entire time he’s been in the city.
“Many years ago, shortly after the fall of Uzushio I met a man named Uzumaki Ashina. He said he was named for a past Uzukage. He was wounded and I took him in, helped him heal and hid him from the like of Kumo and Iwa,” his eyes grew soft. “I fell very much in love with him and he with me. We couldn’t continue the clan line and he died almost ten years ago now. He left me these and I promised that I would pass them onto the next Uzumaki I met. He was not optimistic, believing his clan to be gone.”
He finally hauled a duffel bag from the cart behind his stall and dumped it on the table, gesturing for Naruto to come look. Naruto walked forward slowly, spotting a couple of swords and some scrolls. Arata picked up one and offered it to him.
“They were masters of fuinjutsu, you know. Place a drop of your blood onto that seal there.”
Naruto just looked at the man incredulously before playing along. There was no fucking way. He bit his finger and watched the blood fall onto the seal. There was a burst of light before the thing unfurled, revealing different kenjutsu katas.
“You really are an Uzumaki,” Arata whispered with tears in his eyes. “Take it all. It is yours.”
“Arata-san, I can’t…”
“You will. These are heirlooms of the Uzumaki clan. They need to be with a member of that clan,” he smiled sadly. “I believe our meeting today was fate; maybe it was my Ashina allowing me to fulfil my promise or the gods themselves, but you were meant to have these, Uzumaki Naruto.”
Naruto struggled for words. He’d never had an heirloom before. He wasn’t allowed any of his parents stuff since it was a big secret and all. He belonged to a clan, a real clan, one he’d resigned himself to having lost before he was even born.
“Thank you, Arata-san,” he bowed in a rare moment of complete sincerity. “I will treasure these for the rest of my life.”
Sasuke stomped into the training ground, his target sitting innocently in the middle reading scrolls. Wearing that obnoxious orange, it was a wonder Sasuke had taken so long to find him.
“You!”
Naruto looked up and he rolled his eyes. Rolled his eyes at Sasuke! As if he was the problem!
“Where the fuck have you been?”
“What do you mean where have I been?” Naruto lowered his scroll. “Why were you even looking?”
“You are going to be my training partner,” Sasuke stated, pointing right into the dobe’s stupid face.
“Oh man, this again?” Naruto fell back into the grass.
Sasuke scowled and walked so was standing directly above him.
“You have to train with me,” he restated, holding eye contact with the genin. “Teach me how to walk up walls.”
“Why me?” Naruto raised a blond eyebrow up at him. “I am literally the last choice for pretty much every person in this village.”
“Everyone else is dumb,” Sasuke said firmly, and this caused Naruto to sit up. The blond stared at him for a long moment before patting the grass beside him. Sasuke sat down gracefully, crossing his arms. “You graduated three years early. You are the only person my age who could probably keep up with me.”
“I’m the only person your age who could beat you is what you mean,” Naruto grinned.
Sasuke just glared at him. Naruto sighed heavily.
“Fine, but I have conditions.”
“Hn.”
“You can get into place I can’t,” he began. “You can also get the good prices, so you’re going to buy my groceries and weapons. I’ll give you the money.”
“I’m not going to be your fucking errand boy!”
Naruto held up a hand.
“I would do it myself but it costs like double and they’re starting to catch onto my henge.”
That didn’t make any sense to Sasuke but the blond continued before he could ask.
“Also I want to make it clear that we are not friends, got it? So if a guy with silver hair or one in green spandex asks, we don’t know each other, got it? They absolutely cannot find out about this. They would never let me live it down.”
Sasuke scoffed. He didn’t need friends and it wasn’t like he was going to be admitting to training with Naruto with anyone. If anything, Naruto should be the one bragging.
“This is a business arrangement at most. You don’t have seniority on me so demanding isn’t going to do shit. Just ask like a normal human being ‘cause if you come in ordering me, odds are I am going to do the opposite. I can walk away at any time so demanding ain’t going to do shit. Got it?”
Sasuke rolled his eyes but nodded. He would take it. Getting stronger was the only thing that mattered and if he had to put up with this blond idiot to do it, he would. He blinked at the outstretched hand, taking it after a moment.
“Looks like we have a deal, partner,” Naruto grinned and Sasuke rolled his eyes even harder. This better be worth it.
Naruto breathed in the biting night air, watching the lanterns rise above the village into the night sky. The end of another year; it was a pretty good year he would say. He graduated from the academy, met Gai-sensei, left the village for the first time. Even Kakashi and Sasuke weren’t so bad.
He pulled the black duffel closer. He had spent many nights just looking at his family’s swords, trying to imagine his relatives swinging them around. He wanted to learn, he had the katas, but something made him hesitate. He wanted to do it right; he wanted to honour his family. He didn’t want to screw this up. He already had so little from his ancestors.
Kenjutsu would work so well with his bloodline limit. He had mentioned the swords to Gai when they’d met back up in the Capital. The man had said that the blooming of his Youth had been rewarded. Naruto had just rolled his eyes.
He would talk to Gai tomorrow about starting sword training. This was a new year; one step closer to his goals. He’d had a taste of freedom and was more determined than ever to make it more permanent.
He had a lot of work to do this year.