Gerimis

Naruko looked boringly at her punch card, she had no reason to take a leave today and her pain in her sprained foot had completely gone. The doctor she had seen as soon as she set foot in Konoha had told her to see him again if the pain returned but after a day of rest there was no pain. So, reluctantly she slipped into her uniform and waited for Konan for the ride to work. It was her first day riding with Konan, so she made sure to wait early at the bus stop.

The carpooling thing with Konan was only decided last night. Konan had called her in the middle of the night asking about her arrangement to work and Naruko told her that she was taking a hired car to work paid for by Iruka. Konan had taken the trouble to call Iruka beforehand and insisted that they ride to work together.

It was 12.05 am when Konan called, “My bandmates is taking over a music shop, two floors down from the cinema. They live only a block from your house, so I agreed that we all should carpool together.”

Naruko was reluctant at first and she had called Iruka. The sleepy man just said, “I am glad that you have friends to go to work with. Don’t worry I already paid three months advanced petrol money to her. Just wait for her at the bus stop, she’ll fetch you on time.”

There wasn’t much that she could say about that, the hired car she took to work wasn’t a very delightful experience either. The hired driver Iruka had assigned for Naruko preferred to drive in silence while Naruko sat alone at the back. Naruko hoped that she could socialize well with Konan’s friends since they looked like the nice people type.

But when Konan fetched her, the guys were abesent. They had left for a last minute performance at a  weekend music festival, and Konan couldn’t come as Kakashi was off somewhere else.

After clocking in, Naruko headed to the office to check out her shift for the remainder of the week. Konan had stopped at the entrance to enquire the guards about something so she had entered the office alone. Kakashi was doing the schedules this week and had moved their shifts around since they were a little understaffed as even Konan had to man the counter during lunch hour. They were also calling in a few of the other outlet managers to help them, but they would only arrive in the evening as patrons usually come after work.

Naruko sighed as she saw that she was to man the counter today and would be on maintenance tomorrow. Konan had mentioned that two of their employees were down with flu, and won’t return until Monday. So Naruko knew that she would definitely work on the weekends and the Friday to Sunday schedule confirmed her assumptions.

Feeling dehydrated and hungry, Naruko headed to the pantry where free breakfast was served for the morning crew. She had about twenty minutes before they need to prepare the cash registry at 9.30 am and open shop at 10.00 am.

Inside the pantry, there were an assortment of food. There were fried noodles, fried rice and sandwiches. Naruko was unconsciously licking her lips when she saw that the fried noodle came with fried chicken today. As she was unboxing the pack of food, a lazy voice called out her name.

“Naruko, long time no see. How’s the foot?”

Naruko looked at the source of the voice and saw Kakashi as usual in his mask leaning against the door. She was a little surprised to see Kakashi appearing there, since she Kakashi was supposed to be away. He also never showed up before ten am the earliest. To confirm her surprise Naruko checked her watch and for sure it was only 9.15 am.

“You too, long time no see,” Naruko addressed Kakashi as she glanced at the man and then continued to sit down and start eating. She was really hungry the moment the fried noodle smell wafted into her nose so she decided to ignore her boss for awhile.

Kakashi wasn’t offended and instead entered the pantry, “I am glad you are back at work.” He opened the refrigerator to fetch a can of coffee.

“Yes. It’s been nice being away from work.”

Kakashi opened the can and placed it on the table. Naruko suddenly remembered that Kakashi was wearing a mask, and she stopped shoveling the food into her mouth and waited for Kakashi to pull down his mask to drink. Today might be her lucky day to see Kakashi unmasked. However, instead of drinking the coffee, he sat down and chuckled before he spoke again.

“You need to work, to pay for the vacation you deserved. So if you want more vacations you better work your ass off.”

“Yes boss,” Naruko said while grinning at Kakashi. “One life to work my ass off.”

“That’s true,” Kakashi piped in.

Naruko deliberately watched as Kakashi stood up to grab a tissue to wrap around the cold can. He sat down again and played with the opened can of drink. Naruko could see that Kakashi wasn’t about to unveil his face in front of her, so she continued to spoon the noodle into her mouth.

“If you had a chance,” Kakashi spoke. Naruko continued to chew her food and look at her boss who sat two chairs away from her. The table could fit around six people and there were still food available for the morning crew, but still no one was coming in.

“If you had a chance,” Kakashi started again, “to change your life, would you grab it?”

Naruko was now on her last spoonful of noodles, so she chowed it down before washing it down with a gulp of drink. Kakashi waited while she ate.

“I suppose I would grab it, whatever that chance is? What are you on about Kakashi? That was such a vague question.”

Kakashi laughed. He stood up and this time grabbed a straw from a box on another small table and placed it into the can’s opening. He remained standing and continued, ““You know that working in a cinema isn’t something that you will do forever right?”

Naruko rolled her eyes, “I am well aware of that. In fact, I think I might quit sooner than I think.” Naruko said.

“That’s good to hear. So, are you planning to go back to school?”

Naruko threw her empty noodle box into a trashcan. “I have been thinking about that for some time now, but I can’t see myself attending school like a normal teenager. I am afraid that I won’t be able to last long.”

“How long have you been away from school?” Kakashi asked.

“Since this year only, but… when I see the kids at school back in Iwa… I don’t think I could go back to that. Iruka had me registered for college entrance exam next year. I am thinking of attending the local college, maybe taking a certificate in something which piqued my interest. I have to take a day’s leave to meet with Iruka and a consultant from the college maybe. I don’t know, I have another few months to think about these things.”

“It’s good to know that you aren’t completely abandoning academics in favour of working. The last decade since I have gotten to know Iruka, I have seen him go against odds to get where he is now. He wasn’t a privileged kid, but he worked his ass off to get to where he is now.”

Naruko smiled, Iruka had been drumming into her the importance of academics but Naruko was not completely sure whether she would be following Iruka’s way of life. She was only sixteen after all, but unlike other teenagers who have parents and guardians to guide them through the post high school journey, she only had Iruka.

“He told me that one too many times,” she said agreeing with Iruka words many months ago before he left. He had not gone home to Konoha at all since he started and it was nearing the end of the year. That greatly reminded her that she had only covered half of the syllabus Iruka had told her to study. She will need to sit for some mock tests before she sat for the actual college entrance exams. She wondered whether furthering her study in a college near to Iruka would be better than a college in Konoha. Apart from that, there was also the offer from Sasuke as well, free education and all. But Naruto wasn’t sure if Iruka would readily agree to that.

“The sky’s the limit,” Kakashi continued again vaguely as his eyes turned half moon.

“Reach for the stars,” Naruko exclaimed.

“Well, see you around as I’m off to where I should be. I am here early because I need to drop something with Konan. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Ok, see you around boss.”

After Kakashi left, Naruto was suddenly aware that her boss hadn't sip the drink in front of her at all. She laughed and wondered whether she will be able to see Kakashi’s face anytime soon.

Kakashi’s words, though vague, rang in her head. She was very sure working in a cinema was not something she would do for long.

Sasuke stood for a second outside of the grey door before he knocked on Maito Guy’s office.

“Come in,” answered the person inside.

He opened the door and closed it behind him. Maito Guy, Jounin and currently in charge of the Jinchuuriki program was wearing a short sighted glass reading a folder. He was seated behind a huge mahogany table with an opened laptop on one side of it and a stack of closed folders on another side.

“Ahh, Sasuke. You came on time. I am sorry that I needed to interrupt your morning class for this meeting, but I need your report on this matter as soon as possible. Have a seat.”

Sasuke nodded and sat down on the opposite leather chair. He was dressed in a pair of military green uniform, matched with a khaki Chuunin vest and a pair of laced up boots. Maito Guy as a Jounin, wore a navy blue military outfit, grey Jounin vest and also a pair of black boots.

“Here’s the surveillance report from your visit to Iwa,” Gai handed the folder that he was holding to Sasuke. Sasuke took the folder and closed it to read it from the cover. He smirked, he knew he was going to be watched anyway. ROOT was very serious about this Jinchuuriki project it seems. There were pictures from when she fell in the river. If Sasuke wasn’t schooled in controlling his emotions, he would have blushed by now. But he remained stoic and browsed through the pictures as if it was someone else in the picture holding a girl in his arms.

“Danzo ordered all her actions and interactions with you to be recorded, he wanted to be sure that she would side with us. What are your own personal analysis from the mission?”

Sasuke sat straighter and answered, “She was normal. Too normal and weak. But she seemed ready to enter Chuunin, as she seemed interested in the academics factor.”

“That sounded good. She might seem weak to you now. But when she is fused with the Bijuu, she will gain strength and power even beyond our greatest trained Chuunin. We need her to trust you, so she would have someone to confide in during her weakest moment. Right now we need you two to be the best of friends.”

Sasuke smiled, he was sure they were friends now. He would make sure they were the best of friends later. He suspected that she might even felt something more for him, but he was not about to entertain that notion when this was a mission and not a walk in the park.

The phone on Guy’s table rang and he promptly picked it up. “Yes speaking…. Now? Ok. We’ll be there in ten.”

“We need to meet Danzo now. Let’s go.”

______________________________

“Good morning Uchiha-kun, Gai-san. Please have a seat.”

“Thank you Danzo-sama,” Gai greeted.

“I am sorry to drag you from your class today Uchiha-kun, I heard that Rin was having quite an interesting class on using chakra to heal. I will assign a replacement class for you later this week to make up for this impromptu meeting. These are Killer B-san and Yamato-san, they will work with both of you on this mission. Yamato-san, if you would proceed with the mission background.”

“Thank you Danzo-sama We have information that the Kaguya clan had intercepted Jinchuuriki’s Utakata, Yugito Nii and Roshi from their homelands. We have also received evidence that they had two other Bijuus in their possession. But as yet we are not certain of their identities.”

Danzo looked solemnly at Yamato and then proceeded to look at Sasuke, “Uchiha-kun we need you to invite Uzumaki Naruko to CHUUNIN first thing tonight. We will provide a few bodyguards who will watch her from afar until we fetch her. Based on the report, she had full trust in you by now so you should have no problem to bring her here tonight.”

Killer B stood up and bowed to Danzo, “Danzo-sama, I would like to propose that we include Sasuke-kun into the programme. We have already concluded in the recent test with Itachi, Fugaku, Shisui and Mikoto that the Sharingan could control the bijuu chakra. We need to test Sasuke-kun’s Sharingan further, but we have gained substantial evidence that the Sharingan is effective when it comes to controlling the Chakra beasts.”

Danzo smiled and nodded, “I have looked at the report this morning and I agree with you. I was thinking of sending Itachi based on his experience with Killer B and Yagura.”

Maito Gai made a surprised face and held his hand up to interrupt Danzo but the CHUUNIN leader lifted his hand slightly at Gai and continued talking.

“But after I have discussed with the higher ups and read the mission report, I agree with Killer B and Yamato-san that Sasuke is more suited for this mission since he had been befriending the prospective Jinchuuriki on a more personal level.”

Maito Gai smiled and put his hand down.

Danzo nodded to Gai and Yamato, “Yamato-san and Maito-Gai, please hand in the preliminary report before sundown. Killer B, I look forward for you to train our newest Jinchuuriki as soon as we infuse her with the Bijuu Chakra.”

Killer B nodded and looked from Danzo to Yamato. Then he flexed his muscles and stood. He struck a pose with his hands pointing to himself and began rapping, “This is Killer B ready to serve, hey Jinchuuriki do you know your purpose, I will share all my experience and years of training, so brace yourself and let’s start preparing.

Maito Gai started crying and clapping while Yamato smiled. Danzo who had gotten used to his subordinates antics just let them enjoy the entertainment for a minute before standing up and gesturing to Gai.

“Gai-san, please escort Uchiha-kun to the Jinchuriki quarters. I have something to discuss with Yamato-san.”

“Of course Danzo-sama, Gai stood and bowed to Danzo, before turning to Sasuke and Killer B. “Let’s go meet the bright little ones at the Jinchuuriki wing.”

Killer B who was already standing then bowed down to Yamato and led the way to the Jinchuuriki quarters. Sasuke followed behind Gai and Killer B, out of Danzo’s office heading towards the West, the CHUUNIN section was located on the East. They walked through several doors before taking the lift to level 9 and entered a heavily guarded compound.

Killer B scanned his eyes into the door of the main entrance as the guards nodded to him. As soon as the main door to the Jinchuuriki quarters opened, Sasuke saw that the Jinchuuriki wing was a normal looking house with a Zen Garden. The sky was shining brightly and it was almost afternoon. They walked into the Zen garden the size of two netball courts, with a fountain at the end which was connected with a pool with Koi fishes in it. There were a few cherry blossoms trees lining the garden which provided shades. Under the trees Sasuke saw a teenager in maroon robe, sitting down cross legged with his hands resting on each of his knees. The teen did not show any reaction when they walked past him, Gai smiled at the teenager and entered a white house at the end of the garden.

Killer B opened the doors to the house and announced, “Good afternoon, anyone home?”

A girl in white shirt, white shorts and sneakers, flew towards Killer B and hugged him. When she let go she whined, “You haven’t been home for a week, I hope your mission was a success. Gaara had gone into meditation and stopped talking three days ago, and Yagura is off on a mission with Root.”

Fuu smiled at Maito Gai and Sasuke. “Gai-sensei, who have we here? I am bored to death from talking to myself. How are you? I am Fuu. Are you a Jinchuuriki?”

Gai laughed and gestured to a sofa set not far from them. Sasuke looked around him and noted the normal looking living quarters of the Jinchuuriki. Gai noticed Sasuke looking around and began explaining, “Danzo wanted to make sure that the Jinchuuriki still lived normally so he made their quarters as comfortable as a normal home.”

Sasuke nodded, he was not jealous at all. He was fine with his living arrangements which was half military and half civilian style. They all sat down.

“This is Sasuke Uchiha from CHUUNIN, he will work with us and along with the new Jinchuuriki.”

“We are getting another sibling? Great? I would love a sister. I am bored being the sole flower among bees,” Fuu laughed.

“You are spot on that, the new Jinchuuriki is going to be a female and most probably will share your room. Or do you want a separate room?”

Fuu giggled and replied, “I would love a new roomie. It had been a lonely few months. Gaara listens well but he wasn’t much of a talker. I have too many arguments with Yagura to feel like I am friends with him, but when he is away I am so lonely.”

Gai smiled and told Fu, “We will talk about your new living arrangements when the Jinchuuriki is ready to live here. But now I need for you to explain to Sasuke what it means to be a Jinchuuriki.”

Fu jumped from her seat and walked to Sasuke’s sofa and sat at the single seater next to him. “Hi, I am Fuu. Uchiha-kun… or can I call you Sasuke?” She offered him a hand and they shook hands.

“Sure, how old are you?” Sasuke asnwered as soon as Fu let go of his hand.

“I am fifteen and am going to be sixteen in a month. Actually that is not my official birthday but Danzo told me to choose a date so I thought that 1st January sounded fun. I wanted my birthday to be a national holiday. What else do you want to know about me? How old are you?”

Sasuke moved slightly so he was facing Fu, after his encounter with Naruko he found out that when talking to a girl as happy go lucky as Fu, they liked that you give them their full attention.

“I am sixteen. I heard that you are from Indonesia?”

“Yes, I came from Indonesia. In fact the first two CHUNINs I met were Neji and Tenten, they came here last week. I actually missed them, are you friends with them?”

Gai stood up and placed a hand on Killer B’s shoulder. “I leave Sasuke with you, I will fetch him in two hours to get ready for tonight.”

Killer B nodded and they all watched as Gai exited the door. Then Killer B stood and said, “I need to polish my swords, you two okay if I leave you here alone? Sasuke you will have lunch with us today.”

Sasuke nodded at Killer B while Fu suddenly jumped in surprise. “Eh, I forgot to offer Gai-sensei a drink. Killer B do you want a drink?

Killer B flexed his muscle and said, “No little girl no need to fret, my thirst don’t need to be quenched, I am all set.”

“If you say so, wait here Sasuke. I made lime and honey juice earlier today and left it to chill, are you okay with that?”

Sasuke nodded and Fu clapped her hands giddily and sprouted wings before gliding gracefully towards the fridge. Sasuke noticed that her wings were almost transparent and when it reflected light the colours were a fusion of orange and mint green like a dragonfly’s wings. He needed to know so many things about Jinchuurikis but he told himself that his primary focus was to know them as humans first.

Sasuke pondered about Fu who was very talkative and very very friendly. Though he was not really the talkative kind, but Sasuke was adaptive to the people around him. He thought about his encounter with Naruko, she was the only person he did not need to be pretending with. He was glad because he was very intrigued by her. From what Gai had told him earlier, jinchuuriki will undergo a transformation when they are fused with the Bijuu. So whatever reservation he had towards Naruko, about her weakness, or why someone like her with no special potential was chosen as a prospective Jinchuuriki, he should shove it aside and focus in on his mission, which was to aid her with her adjustments into the Jinchuuriki program.

Fu came back and sat down on her sofa, her wings were already gone as she had walked from the fridge to the seats. She handed a glass of water with a straw in it to Sasuke. Sasuke drank it and placed it on a table beside his seat.

“I have met the prospective Jinchuuriki last week and I am sure you two will be fast friends. But I know nothing about being a Jinchuuriki, maybe you can explain to me?”

“Sure, I wasn’t born as a Jinchuuriki you know,” Fu started. Sasuke nodded as the girl continued, “I was an orphan and was living with an old woman whom I call Nana. I was six years old at that time but I remembered it like yesterday. She told me that some bad people had come to my village and that it was time. She took me into a cave and there were a few men wearing robes. She left me and I watched her go, I cried and cried and cried but she never turned back. Then they told me to drink a glass of water and I slept as I was very tired from the journey. Next thing I know the men left me with another woman who taught me to meditate and how to defend myself. I was surprised to see that I have these wings and can fly at will. She told me that I was destined to be the Jinchuuriki of the village and I was a weapon and also wanted by so many evil people. Less than a year after that a group of bad men came to my village to wreak havoc and me and the woman used my powers to help the villagers defend the village.”

“How did you came here?” Sasuke enquired. He would check with Gai later what actually happened at Fu’s village.

“Like I told you, two of your friends came to visit me last year and told me to be part of this program. The woman who took care of me gave her blessings and Danzo must have promised something to my village elders, and they let me leave with them when they came again earlier this year. So are they your friends, they were older than me I think.”

“Yes, they are seventeen while I am sixteen. They are my peers.”

“Ah, peers. Such a formal word. Fire me any question, I can handle it. That’s why I am a Jinchuuriki you know.”

Sasuke smirked and Fu laughed. Sasuke continued. “So, how does it feel to be a Jinchuuriki?”

“From what aspect? It could be a little lonely. I don’t have any families, so I made friends with the servants who worked with my guardian. I have been making friends with anyone I met when I came here.”

Sasuke smiled and took another sip of the drink. “This is tasty,” he commented.

Fu just blushed and continued, “if you ask me what it feels to have this power I should say that sometimes it feels like a burden. I... sometimes wonder how it feels to be a normal teen, but since I have lived a very sheltered life this is the only thing i know, I am not that angsty about not having a normal life.”

“Being a normal teen is overrated, with the powers that we have… I am not a Jinchuuriki but I have powers which can be used for the good of humankind.”

“Yeah Danzo kept telling us that when we first came here. It was all for the good of the people, i came here to escape my life. It’s waaaaay better here. Sometimes we go out to town in a car with Yamato-sensei. I watched a movie last month with Rin-sensei though it was a midnight movie and me and her were the only ones in the huge cold cinema. I wish I could go to CHUUNIN classes, I heard from Killer B there are a few girls about my age. So far I have only met Tenten, and if she is that friendly maybe the others are too.”

Sasuke smiled at Fu’s innocence. He was only there to research about Jinchuuriki, and he had no authority to let her mingle with his CHUUNIN peers.

Then Fu sighed and said, “I know that I am only here because ROOT did not want us to fall into the wrong hands. I am still young but I do understand that we were weapons and if we were to fall into the wrong hands, they might kill us and extract the Bijuu.”

Sasuke dropped his smile and looked at the Jinchuuriki glumly, “We are all here with a purpose.”

“Yeah, I am glad that you came here today anyway. At least I get to share my boredom with someone.” Fu smiled and sighed.

Then her smiled brighter, “You look a lot like Itachi when you have this serious thing going on your face, is he your brother?”

Sasuke nodded and smirked. “Yes, we were genetic brothers, siblings.”

“Killer B told me that all CHUUNIN were born in the lab, is it true?”

“Yes.”

“Cool, it’s like one of those sci-fi things. Can you show me your Sharingan? Itachi showed me his eyes when we met at the lab last month.”

“I can’t yet,” Sasuke replied.

“Why?” Fu frowned.

“I am still recuperating from my surgery to upgrade my eyes. The last time I used it in the examination room, I had a massive headache and my eyes bled.”

“Ewww, that’s scary. Itachi tried putting a genjutsu on me that time and I almost fainted. Anyway since I can’t see your Sharingan, tell me about this new Jinchuuriki, is she any good?”

Sasuke finished down his drink and began describing Naruko to Fu. He left out the details where Naruto was furious with him sometimes, only telling how she was a happy go lucky with a penchant for ramen.

“Ah, she sounded just like me though i have never tasted ramen. I hope we can all be friends when she arrive. Maybe she can squeeze the ice out from Ice King Gaara and get him talking.” Fu turned towards the door to see if Gaara was coming in anytime, after she was sure that Gaara was still outside she continued.” Gaara is lucky that he has siblings, he does not have to face this thing inside alone.”

Sasuke listened on as Fu babbled about Gaara. He glanced at his watch and saw that an hour had passed. Gai would be fetching him anytime soon.