thirteen
Naruto frowned as he waited for the Hokage to finish with his papers. He couldn’t think of anything he’d done recently to get into trouble. He made up with Gai and his new genin were no worse for wear. He’d done all his missions and hadn’t spoken to a single civilian. He’d even done his reports right. He really couldn’t think of a reason why Jiji would want to speak to him.
“Naruto-kun,” Jiji finally looked up. “How have you been?”
“Fine,” he answered quickly, still suspicious. “What do you want, Jiji?”
The Hokage leaned back in his chair and observed him. Naruto hated that; people just needed to come out and say the shit they wanted to say. It’s why he liked Gai-sensei and even Sasuke; they didn’t beat around the bush. Kakashi did it on purpose just to mess with him but not when it mattered.
“I just wanted to catch up with you, Naruto-kun,” Jiji smiled. “I have heard good things from my shinobi about your conduct on missions. I have also heard you have started to train your kenjutsu.”
Naruto still didn’t get it. Jiji never called him just to ‘catch up’. It was always because he’d done something wrong or that he couldn’t go to the chunin exams or he needed to be nicer to the civilians. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Jiji just for the sake of seeing Jiji. He also couldn’t remember when he’d stopped trusting the old man. He never saw things from Naruto’s point of view, never took his side. It was always Naruto’s fault.
“Yeah,” he said, purposefully not elaborating.
The Hokage didn’t answer him, just looking at him with a considering look. They were interrupted by the door to the office slamming open and a young child stomping forward to point a finger at the Hokage, holding a kunai in the air above his head.
“TODAY IS THE DAY I BECOME THE HOKAGE!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
He was tiny, can’t have been more than five. In a yellow t-shirt with the leaf symbol on the front in red, grey shorts and a weird cap that allowed a tuft of brown hair to emerge almost like a ponytail, he stuck out. He immediately tripped on the far too long blue scarf he had wrapped around his neck and Naruto didn’t suppress his grin as the child landed heavily on the wooden floor with a thud.
The kid looked up, a red mark on his forehead and tears starting to well in his dark eyes. His gaze locked onto Naruto and he sprang to his feet, directing his attention to him instead.
“You tripped me!”
Naruto looked back at him, unimpressed.
“Did I fuck.”
“Naruto-kun, please watch your language,” the Hokage admonished. “This is my grandson, Konohamaru.”
Naruto rolled his eyes. This kid was going to grow up to be a shinobi, which meant he was in for a lot more than a few curse words. Hell, he’d already heard way worse at this kid’s age.
“Hey, you tripped me!” the kid stomped his foot in anger, crossing his arms in a huff. “I want an apology!”
“I didn’t do anything,” Naruto crossed his own arms, glaring down at the kid. “You tripped over your scarf.”
“You totally tripped me!”
Oh, Naruto was not getting blamed for this. Knowing his luck, he would actually get punished for this to make the kid feel better and would be expected to just suck it up for the Hokage’s sake. Not today; he was not doing any D-ranks today. A look of realisation crossed Konohamaru’s face and Naruto braced for the new pile of shit this kid was spitting.
“You’re trying to take my grandpa down before me!” He accused. “I won’t let you steal the hat! I’m the one who’s going to beat him and become the next Hokage!”
Naruto couldn’t help it. He laughed, and once he started he couldn’t stop. Every time he took in a breath to try and control himself the giggles burst out of him again. He clutched his stomach, getting a stitch. Gods, he couldn’t breathe. That was the funniest shit he’d heard in a while. He straightened out from where he’d been hunched over, finally getting some control over himself. He wiped the wetness off his cheeks as he tried to resist bursting out laughing all over again at the sight of the kid’s indignant expression.
“Kid, I cannot express to you how little I want to be the Hokage,” he wheezed out. “Gods, that is the funniest shit ever. Me, Hokage.”
Just the thought was enough to send him into another fit of giggles. Him, voluntarily choosing to not only stay in the village, but actually help and protect its citizens. Like, forget his entire upbringing, instead defend the very people he was trying to escape.
“It’s not funny!” It appeared the kid had never had this reaction before.
“Look, you are welcome to it,” he waved a hand. “The old man could use a good fight.”
He grinned over at the Hokage who didn’t seem to be as amused as Naruto thought he would be. They were interrupted again by a man sweeping dramatically into the office.
“Honourable Grandson!” Ebisu cried.
Naruto’s good mood soured immediately. He fucking hated Ebisu. He knew he was Gai’s genin teammate and all, but the man hated him right back. He was so far up his own ass that his sunglasses had shit smeared on them. He never missed an opportunity to make Naruto feel like crap and Naruto could tell the man shared the opinions of most of the civilians. He thought Naruto was lesser, that he shouldn’t be a shinobi. He hadn’t even done anything to the man to deserve this. He was glad Gai-sensei stood up for him but there nothing to be done. Assholes like Ebisu were just an unfortunate part of his life.
“Hokage-sama, I apologise most profusely for this interruption,” the jounin simpered. “Come, Honourable Grandson. Let us leave Hokage-sama to his work.”
“This guy tripped me!” Konohamaru pointed to him and Naruto could actually see the disgust behind Ebisu’s glasses as he spotted him.
“It’s not your fault, Honourable Grandson,” Ebisu reassured the kid. “You don’t want to be associated with his kind. He’s bad luck wherever he goes; the wrong example of a shinobi. You must avoid him in the future.”
Konohamaru gaped at him with this new information but Naruto just looked away. The Hokage’s silence was deafening.
“Come, Honourable Grandson.”
“He has a fucking name,” Naruto couldn’t help but call out.
“You cannot use that sort of language around the Honourable Grandson,” Ebisu snapped back. “It may be befitting of someone of your station, but it is not for the rest of us.”
Naruto bit hard down on his lip to stop himself from retaliating. It wouldn’t do anything; he would be the one to get in trouble. If they hadn’t been in front of the Hokage things would be different but he had no faith the old man would choose him over his own flesh and blood, even if he was in the right.
“Can I go?”
“Of course, Naruto-kun,” the Sandaime nodded, features blank. “We can catch up another time.”
Naruto left the office and started down the opposite corridor than the other pair. He knew things were going to wrong but at least he now had official confirmation that the Hokage was no longer to be trusted. He wasn’t Jiji anymore, if he ever was.
Neji reluctantly followed his team towards the Hokage Tower to report for a D-rank. It was unfortunate but these asinine missions were a part of being a shinobi. Since his loss to the Uzumaki a few days ago, Neji had been deep in thought; about his beliefs, the Uzumaki’s words, his clan, his father.
His father had been sacrificed in place of the Clan Head and Neji had been convinced it was because his father was a branch member. It was their destiny to serve the Main House and this was only reinforced by the power of the cursed seal. He had seen too many occasions where a branch member was forced to submit under the pain of the activated seal. It was like having a chain around his neck and the Main House had the end of it, ready to suffocate him at any time. He could remember his father crippled in pain, his own brother standing over him, activating the cursed seal.
He hated it. He hated other people having so much control over his life. He hated having to limit himself in case someone thought he was trying to ‘rise above his station’. They could all be proud of how strong he was, but he knew for a fact that they didn’t believe he was a real threat. He was just something to be shown off to the village; within the walls of the Hyūga compound, he was just like any other branch member. He knew he could be stronger than them all but he was restricted. He wasn’t allowed access to all the Hyūga clan’s techniques. Weak little Hinata got that privilege. He knew she hadn’t chosen the circumstances of her birth anymore than he had but it was still frustrating. She had everything he didn’t and she couldn’t even find the courage to take it.
He hated to admit it, but Uzumaki had a point. Neji had accepted the path in life the Main House had laid out for him as much as he had resented it. He had accepted that there was nothing he could do in his position and hadn’t fought it, blaming fate and his birth. He had never actually tried to go as far as he knew he could. He had channelled his frustration into tearing everyone else down like he had been; thinking that if he had to accept his fate that everyone else did too. He’d been holding himself back just as much as the Main House were. The Main House had put him in a cage but he had never tried to escape.
The Uzumaki seemed to come from the same place he did, with people trying to stop him becoming as strong as he could be. He had asked around after their fight and found that public opinion was very much against the younger genin. There was so much hostility and although Neji didn’t get why, he did have to acknowledge that Naruto knew what he was talking about. He had been torn down by others around him but unlike Neji who had accepted it as his fate, he had fought against it with everything he had. It was…admirable, even if Neji still thought he was infuriating.
He was a decent fighter too. The Uzumaki was the first person Neji had fought his own age who could actually beat him. He had known that Naruto was purposefully allowing him to recover so they could continue fighting and it was shameful. He had not expected to be outmatched but it did bode well for his assignment to Gai. He may not like the Uzumaki but he had Neji’s respect.
Lee was talking about something in a volume unsuitable for public spaces and Tenten was nodding along. He still thought Lee was fighting a losing battle, his limitations too great to overcome, but he now saw that he did not need to tear the other boy down further. It would be up to Lee to fight his own battles. He also still thought Hinata was pitifully weak for a member of the Main House; he may be changing his mind on the finality of fate, but she had no excuse. Fate favoured her and she still fell short.
“Naruto-kun!”
Neji looked up to see the menace in question. The boy was looking back at them, seeming to be unpleased by this development. He looked the same as he had last time Neji saw him; orange t-shirt, black sleeveless hoodie, absent hitai-ate. His blue eyes were as stormy as before and his face was turned down into a scowl. The only time Neji could remember him smiling was when he was taunting them during their fight.
“Gai-sensei,” he replied flatly, a stark contrast to their teacher.
It was a strange juxtaposition; Gai was so happy and energetic while Naruto was grumpy and snappy. He did not know how they had managed to work effectively for the last couple of years with such different outlooks but he supposed he would find out.
“Do you care to join us on our D-rank?” Gai grinned.
“Over my dead body.”
Gai was unphased.
“Such passion, Naruto-kun!” He boomed, clapping the boy firmly on the shoulder.
Neji was now starting to see how this arrangement worked. Gai might be the only person that could deal with the sour genin.
“Naruto-senpai!”
Naruto did not even look in Lee’s direction.
“I’m working on ninjutsu today,” he said. “Are we still on for after dinner?”
“Of course, Naruto-kun!” Gai threw him a thumbs up. “We shall reach the Springtime of our Youth for all of Konoha to see!”
Naruto rolled his eyes, but Neji could see the fondness there. As Naruto looked at him, it abruptly vanished.
“Still on your fate bullshit?” he asked directly.
Neji looked at his teammates, unwilling to discuss it in front of them. He may not see them as hindrances anymore but that didn’t mean he trusted them yet. Naruto seemed to get the message.
“Hey, go get the mission,” he told Gai. “I’m borrowing the Hyūga for a sec.”
“I’m so moved!” Gai cried. “Two of my wonderful students bonding; the most beautiful friendship is sure to bloom!”
Naruto made a face that Neji knew mirrored his own. Gai did leave them alone, entering the Hokage Tower. Tenten stared curiously over her shoulder as Lee loudly proclaimed that he would win Naruto’s friendship before Neji. Neji was happy to let him win that one. Naruto crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow.
“You may have had a point,” Neji admitted reluctantly. “I may have been too… focused on my destiny.”
“You let yourself be held back by other people then got all mad about it,” Naruto said frankly and Neji scowled.
“Yes,” he ground out.
“You gonna continue with that?”
“No,” Neji answered firmly. “I am in control of my destiny. I may have more limitations than others, but that will not stop me. Not anymore.”
Naruto surveyed him for a long moment, his blue eyes unreadable. Neji did not like it but he felt like he owed the other genin. He felt like they had an understanding; Naruto came from the same place he did, with others trying to keep them in their place. He knew the Main House would not allow him to grow as strong as he wanted to but he was ready to fight them now. His birth would not hold him back anymore. Not like it did his father.
“I am choosing to become strong enough that I will never lose again,” he continued, staring into his eyes intently.
Naruto broke out into the smallest grin.
“Good luck with that,” he said. “You’ll be losing to me a lot.”
Neji glared at him but it was missing the anger from before.
“I still do not like you,” he felt like he had to add.
“The feeling is mutual.”
They stood, staring at each other for a long moment. Neji was unsure where they went from here but he felt confident about the path he had chosen. He would show both the Main House and the Branch members what a caged bird could really do.
Tenten adjusted the sack of flour on her shoulder, making sure it wouldn’t slip out of her grasp. If she dropped it, she would then have to spend time cleaning it all up and fetching another and she would much rather spend that time training.
She’d been working on her own outside of their team training. She was a lot stronger than she had been when they’d fought Naruto a short time ago. She couldn’t have lifted this sack of flour back in the academy. It was gratifying to see her hard work pay off but she knew she was still a long way from where she was trying to go. She couldn’t beat either of her teammates yet although she got in way more hits than she used to. She’d convinced her father to increase the intensity of her weapons training too. It was slow but she was getting there.
She shoved a strand of hair that escaped one of her buns out of her face, just wanting this mission over with. She was pretty used to D-ranks now but that didn’t make them anymore interesting.
“Almost there, my wonderful students!” Gai-sensei encouraged. “The bakery will be able to make the best goods in Konoha with your Youthful contribution!”
Tenten thought it was a little much for delivering sacks of flour but she’d learned to let most of Gai-sensei’s proclamations wash over her. It had taken a while but she had learned to speak ‘Gai’. There was usually some sense buried under all that talk about youth and he knew what he was doing in terms of training and missions. It had been a little weird to have every little thing celebrated but she secretly liked all the positive reinforcement. She really felt like Gai-sensei did believe in them.
“Naruto-senpai!”
Tenten’s head snapped up at Lee’s voice and she saw the genin in question heading in their direction. He looked as grumpy as ever, stomping through the street with his own luggage in tow. She wondered if he ever looked happy; they’d seen him a few times in the past week, always looking angry or miserable. They’d asked Gai-sensei but the man had just said Naruto was assigned to D-ranks for the week. Naruto spotted them and his expression didn’t change.
“Another D-rank?” Neji asked.
“Two days left,” Naruto grumbled back, adjusting the box in his hands.
“I thought you didn’t do D-ranks anymore,” Tenten chimed in, watching the blond’s expression darken.
“The Hokage seems to think it will teach me some manners,” Naruto gritted out. “I didn’t even do anything this time.”
Tenten exchanged a look with her teammates. She had never heard of D-ranks being used as a punishment, much less by the Hokage. It was really weird.
“Why would he do that?” she asked.
“I caused some trouble when I first graduated,” Naruto admitted. “The Hokage thought I needed taught a lesson and since I don’t have a family or anything, he took it upon himself. I don’t even do anything anymore but he still forces me to do this crap when he thinks I’ve done something wrong.”
She glanced at Gai-sensei and was taken aback to see the man had stopped smiling, actually looking…frustrated? Disapproving? Tenten couldn’t tell; she had never the man without a happy smile before. She blinked and the look was gone as quickly as it came, replaced with Gai-sensei’s normal bright expression. She looked at her teammates but that hadn’t appeared to notice. Was there something more to this? Gai-sensei hadn’t looked happy that Naruto was on D-ranks. Did he not agree with the Hokage?
“It’s strange that D-ranks would be used in that way,” Neji frowned.
“Well, I’ve always been a special case,” Naruto shrugged but the way he said it made it sound like it was a bad thing.
Why would Naruto be a special case? Was it because he graduated early?
“You are so Youthful!” Lee suddenly cried. “Diligently performing these D-ranks! You truly are our senpai!”
Naruto shot him a weird look.
“What’s with the Youth?” he asked. “That’s Gai-sensei’s thing.”
“Gai-sensei has been showing us the wonderful ways of Youth!” Lee grinned in a way that was eerily similar to Gai-sensei. “I have been adopting this philosophy myself so I may become the most Youthful shinobi in Konoha!”
Naruto must have see it too as he grimaced, edging away from Lee slightly.
“Great,” Naruto said flatly. “I’m gonna get back to my mission then.”
He quickly walked past them and Tenten watched him go. Naruto always seemed to generate more questions than answers whenever they spoke.
“Why does the Hokage assign him D-ranks?” she asked Gai-sensei curiously.
“We are not in a position to question the Hokage,” he replied cheerfully. “I am sure Hokage-sama is trying to his best for Naruto-kun!”
Gai-sensei’s grin didn’t falter but Tenten could sense there was something he wasn’t telling them. She didn’t think assigning Naruto missions he clearly hated was very helpful. It also made it seem like he was being singled out for something but she couldn’t imagine what it was. He was a little unfriendly and unapproachable, and used a few too many swears than Tenten knew her mother would be happy with, but he was a really good genin. He was strong and from what she had seen of him so far, an incredibly hard worker.
Naruto seemed like he could use more people on his side and Tenten vowed she would try and be one of them. She might even be able to get some answers along the way.
Naruto dragged his feet towards the training ground. He was finally free from the D-ranks only to get cornered by Gai-sensei into training with his team again. He had vowed not to get suckered in again but he figured he owed his teacher from the last session he had with them. He had told Gai-sensei that he wouldn’t fight them all again; he knew that was asking for trouble.
The Hyūga had seemed to have adjusted his attitude from what he could tell from their conversation outside the Hokage Tower. They weren’t magically going to become friends or anything but it made him a little more bearable. Naruto had accepted that he wouldn’t be able to completely avoid interacting with Gai-sensei’s new team but that didn’t mean he had to become best friends and skip into the sunset with them.
He soon arrived at the training ground and spotted the three genin near the far edge. He’d been able to hear Lee on the walk up and it reminded him a lot of Gai-sensei. Lee reminded him of Gai-sensei a bit too much these days; he was pretty sure the older genin was trying to become the man’s twin. He was ranting about Youth more and more these days and Naruto dreaded the day he would see Lee sporting a green spandex one-piece. It was fucking weird. He didn’t know what was fucked in Lee’s head so that he couldn’t form his own independent identity, but the boy better realise that Gai-sensei wasn’t his. Gai-sensei wasn’t so shallow that imitation would sway him.
“Naruto-senpai!” Naruto groaned as the idiot in question spotted him.
“I told you to stop calling me that,” he said pointedly, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“I could not be so disrespectful!”
Naruto sighed, looking to the other two genin. Neji nodded a greeting and Tenten smiled nervously at him.
“Where’s Gai-sensei?”
“He had to go to the Mission Assignment Desk,” Tenten offered. “Something about reports? He said we should train on our own until he gets here.”
“Gai-sensei wishes for us to foster our own Youth through independent, spirited training!” Lee added.
“Those were closer to his exact words,” Tenten admitted, shrugging.
“Great,” he said flatly.
He started to run through what he needed to work on. His kenjutsu was coming along nicely, but Hayate was still against him practicing on his own since he could mess up his form. His ninjutsu was okay but not something he wanted to work on right now. His bloodline limit needed a lot of work but that wasn’t much use until he could train his body to keep up with it. He didn’t really want a taijutsu battle with any of these guys; it wouldn’t be very productive. He looked over at Tenten thoughtfully.
“You still training with weapons?”
She nodded, unable to hide her surprise at being addressed.
“Yeah, but I’m focusing more on kunai and shuriken right now,” she said. “My dad wants me to master the basics before moving on to other types.”
“Perfect,” Naruto replied. “You can throw them at me.”
There was a moment of silence.
“What?” she demanded.
“Target practice for you, dodging practice for me,” he spelled out. “Do you not already do that? That’s a classic training exercise for a team with a weapon master-in-training.”
It was something he did need to work on and it would improve his speed and reaction times, both essential to mastering his bloodline limit. Kakashi ambushed him occasionally but a prolonged session of dodging would be pretty useful. He could even add it as a regular part of his training; Sasuke would be delighted to throw kunai at him.
“You are so knowledgeable!” Lee cried. “We have much we can learn from you!”
Neji remained quiet, as he had since Naruto had arrived in the clearing. He could see on his face though that he hadn’t considered this idea before. His Byakugan would make dodging pretty easy for him but it was still primarily chakra-based. Dodging plain metal kunai without his fancy clan techniques would be good for him. The Hyūga always over relied on their bloodline anyway.
“Well?” he asked, a bit impatient.
“What if I hit you?” she replied, a bit hesitant.
“Then you should be happy with your aim?” he said slowly, a bit confused. “That would be on me for not dodging fast enough.”
A minor stabbing wouldn’t even faze him; the Kyūbi took care of stuff like that within minutes. Plus it wasn’t like he was going to hold a grudge or anything. He knew he wasn’t the most tolerant person ever but he was the one asking. It didn’t make sense that she would be worried about him retaliating or getting mad.
“But I could really hurt you!” she insisted, her brown eyes boring into him with an emotion that he was unfamiliar with.
“Why do you care about that?” He crossed his arms. “That’s not even relevant; I’ll be fine. Just don’t aim for my head.”
She looked at him, at a loss, and Naruto noticed that even Lee had gone quiet. He felt like he was missing something; he hated that feeling.
“It’s just a training exercise,” he snapped, his confusion morphing into anger. “What is the big deal?”
“I don’t want to hurt you!” Tenten yelled and Naruto was alarmed to see she was getting upset. “I can’t just throw weapons at you; I couldn’t live with myself if I actually hit you. What part of that don’t you get?”
Naruto blinked. She was worried about hitting him because she…didn’t want to hurt him? What the fuck. How weak did she think he was?
“You could have just said no,” he snapped, glaring at her. “I should have known better than to train with some fucking green genin anyway. You don’t know what the fuck you’re doing; I’m not so weak that a training exercise is going to kill me and the fact you think that you are good enough to hurt me, despite all evidence pointing to the exact fucking opposite, is a fucking joke.”
He knew he was being harsh but he was so fucking annoyed. The suggestion that he wouldn’t be able to cope with such a simple exercise was insulting. He hadn’t put blood, sweat and every ounce of his being into training for the past few years to be talked down to by a genin that only graduated a few weeks ago.
There was always a risk of injury during training; it wouldn’t be effective otherwise. He’d come home with more bruises and aches than he could count from training with Gai-sensei and Kakashi wasn’t soft on him either. He knew they would never really hurt him but they also didn’t baby him either. They trusted him to know his own limits.
Even Sasuke knew better. He knew when he suggested this training exercise to the Uchiha, he wouldn’t hesitate to agree because he would be able to see the value in it. Naruto could even admit that they could alter the kunai so they didn’t injure as much but Tenten hadn’t considered that.
“Fuck this,” he said beneath his breath, turning to leave. “Let me know when you grow a spine.”
He stomped out, stopping at the tree line and taking a peak behind him. When he saw Tenten rubbing tears out of her eyes, Lee trying to comfort her, it twisted his gut. He hated this feeling; he only ever got it when he felt like he’d disappointed Gai-sensei. He didn’t even know why things had turned out liked this. He hadn’t tried to upset them or even rile them up; he just suggested a simple training exercise. He was even willing to train with them. He didn’t know what he did wrong.
Maybe he just wasn’t supposed to work with people his age. The academy had made that exceedingly clear to him, and other than Sasuke, it had only been reinforced by his interactions with Gai’s team. He wasn’t made to be on a team, but that was good. They wouldn’t hold him back. He would stick to his initial plan of avoiding them. He couldn’t do anything wrong if he didn’t engage at all. It was working with the civilians.
Neji met his eyes and raised an eyebrow at him. Naruto petulantly raised his middle finger at the Hyūga before continuing to stomp away. He needed to find Sasuke.