Chapter Text
Naruto looked down at the seal in his hands and let out a sigh. He had been trying to recreate his father’s, (and wasn’t that weird to think about? He had a father.), signature Hiraishin. That had resulted in multiple failed attempts, and let’s just say, he would have one less arm if he hadn’t already lost it. ‘Kurama, do you think this looks good?’
He felt the other look at the seal, like he was on Naruto’s shoulder. ‘Looks better than the last one brat. But test it this time.’
He grinned, the novelty of Kurama complementing him hadn’t worn off. The younger started transferring his design on actual sealing paper using real ink. His process was designing a seal, asking Kurama what he thought, and then testing it. He took out a Shuriken, and channeled his chakra into the actual seal. He waited a second, then another. Nothing happened. ‘Guess this one’s a dud huh?’
Then he sensed it, a sharp but muted signature approaching his window. The blonde pulled out a kunai, just to be safe, and looked out his window just in time to see a masked person outside his window. They had black spiky hair that looked like a Naras but it was pulled into a signature ANBU ponytail. They were also wearing a Dove mask, which was cream with grey accents. They knocked on the window, and entered after he nodded. Dove hesitated before seeing that he wasn’t touching the seal, then threw a scroll. They nodded again after he caught it, exiting the same way they entered.
The scroll was stamped with the Hokage’s, Sensei’s, seal. It was black with red accents, made to blend just right into a uniform without attracting attention. Without hesitation, he used the kunai in his hand to slice his finger. His blood dripped on the seal, and it opened. The seal was too official looking to be anything other than urgent, so he didn’t spare a second.
He threw the scroll across the room with no hesitation after reading the contents. It read, ‘Hi, my cute little Genin!’ that pissed him off so much. It wasn’t his fault that he had been banned from taking the Chunin exams, or the Jonin ones. ‘You’re getting summoned to the Hokage’s office for……’ That was a suspicious amount of dots. ’NOTHING.’ Well that was just rude. ‘Just meet me there, From The best sensei ever!’
‘That was a lie, pure and simple.’ He said to Kurama. Naruto’s grin still brightened after reading the scroll. He hadn’t seen his Sensei in a hot minute, not with his injury and the others’ overbearing job. To be honest it was partly because he couldn’t stop himself from laughing at his sensei’s expense. What kind of student was he if he couldn’t admit seeing Kashi drowning behind a sea of paper work was funny. Not a good one at least.
‘Brat, shouldn’t you be getting ready?’
Damn, that was a good point. He stood up and took in his current outfit. He was still in his pajamas with little frogs on them. Said pj’s were stained with an unhealthy amount of sealing ink, and normal ink.
Naruto saw a black T-shirt and some pants laying on the floor innocently. He grabbed them and put them on right there. Then he had a great idea! What if he asked Sensei what he thought about his seal? Kashi had seen the original before, and probably knew how his dad had made it. Including how to personalize it so said creator could use it in the first place. He shoved the seal into his pocket, not looking closely.
The younger also made sure to grab kunai, among other things. He stuffed a Shuriken in the back of his sandal, and a kunai in his arm. He had drawn a storage seal on his prosthetic, just for easy access. But he didn’t put anything too important after his other one broke and all the stuff inside it was destroyed.
Naruto scowled at the thought of losing his wallet again. Kashi-sensei found it funny, but still gave him some money out of pity. Sakura had scolded him before cursing him out for saying he was sorry. She said to stuff it and to apologize to himself. Which would be oddly nice if she hadn't yelled at him to stuff his ‘sorry’ up his ass two seconds after he apologized again.
The blonde grabbed his keys, as if he was going to use them, and opened the window. He looked back at his apartment. ‘Kurama did I forget anything?’
‘No, but I didn’t pay that much attention.’
That was fair. He looked out the window to be greeted with a darkness not unlike his sealing ink. Stars look almost painted across the sky, with the moon being the centerpiece. The only other light came from the village, filled with life. People still traversed the streets and roofs, the strict curfew being pushed back until 3 AM. Some might say that Kakashi was making mistakes while being Hokage, that was true. But looking at the still bustling streets, Naruto couldn’t help but feel like he was succeeding in the parts where it mattered.
He could still remember the dead silence that hung on the battlefield, only interrupted by screams of agony. People seemed to forget that shinobi still had breaking points, and that it didn’t look pretty when they hit it. The glazed over eyes of the corpses who couldn’t do anything but stare back at him. Couldn’t even choose to not meet the gaze of the very same person they considered a monster not too long ago.
He had been on clean up duty. His injury was deemed not serious enough to skip on the clean up. Not to mention that they were short staffed, even before the War.
Some of them were smiling. Their grins would be carved in his nightmares, and daydreams. At one point, his hands were covered in so much blood that some had slipped out of his grasp. They couldn’t do anything while he accidentally dropped their corpses.
No one batted an eye, they just told him to keep up the good work. They didn’t even react to the injuries or state of the person. That made him even more sick.
Naruto shook his head, trying to not think about it. (His hands felt sticky) ‘Kit?’
Shit. ‘Yes?’
‘It’s not your fault.’
Kurama’s voice was like ice on a burn. Though, the blonde never believed him. ‘I know.’
He felt the fox's disapproval, and then the other sighed. ‘But you don't. It wasn’t your fault and it never will be. It was a collection of wrong choices, and worse circumstances.’
Naruto finally let himself believe in Kurama’s assurances. ‘Thank you, Kurama.’
‘Anytime Kit.’
His voice was warm, and felt so much like home. He didn’t know what he would do without the fox.
The blonde finally stepped onto the window ledge before his window hit him from behind. The problem was that he had taped weights to his window. 20kg (44lbs) to be exact, and that didn’t feel good when it hit him from behind. Naruto didn’t want to admit it, but that was probably a mistake. His countermeasure for shinobi coming back to bite him in the ass. He lost his footing, but he hung onto his windowsill, and it shut with a click. That was a close call to say the least. He put his feet on the side of the building and walked up.
As he jumped from building to the next he spread out his senses, just to feel a familiar signature that wasn’t normally there. Sasuke was back in town, and heading to Kakashi’s office just like him. So he changed his course to intercept him.
Sasuke must have also sensed him as he was also changing his route to merge into Naruto’s. They met halfway, and “Hey!”
Sasuke rolled his eye, the other covered by an eye patch. “Dobe.”
He just grinned, “I’ve missed you!”
The other avoided his gaze. “Hn.”
Naruto got closer to the other, “Awww, you missed me too!”
Teme just shrugged, which was insulting. He gasped overdramatically, and put a hand to his chest. “Shut up.”
“I take offense to that Teme!”
He took his hand off his chest. “I’ve said worse.”
Naruto just laughed at that, “I’m well aware.”
They ran in silence, their steps perfectly in sync. “Sakura’s coming too.”
Sasuke looked at him weirdly, “You can sense that much?”
He just nodded in response, “Naruto! Sasuke!”
It was their only warning before she tackled both of them. Sakura’s arms were cold but comforting as they wrapped both him and Sasuke in a hug. “Sakura!”
Sasuke started to try and get out of her hold, “I have somewhere to be!”
She just sighed, “Like Kakashi-sensei’s office is going to be our main priority.”
Naruto had to give it to her, that was a fair point. “I’m just surprised you started it, I thought Naruto would have.”
They both looked at him expectantly. He just shrugged, “I thought Teme wouldn’t appreciate it.”
Sasuke gave up defeated, “That’s because I don’t. But when has that ever stopped you?”
Naruto tried to bring his hands up, but was stopped by Sakura’s grip. “Hey! I thought you two would be happy that I learned boundaries!”
They both rolled their eyes. The injustice! He was being ganged up on by his own friends, the people he trusted with his life. “You two are so cruel…..”
He made his voice lose volume as he said it, to add to the dramatics. “Come on Naruto!”
Sakura had let them both go and was running to Kakashi’s office. Naruto made eye contact with Sasuke, nodded and booked it after her. She let them catch up before increasing her speed again. “Last one there is a rotten egg!”
Oh it was so on. So they raced, not above dirty tricks. Sasuke tried to put them under a genjutsu, which failed. Naruto felt Kurama’s distaste for the trick. “Sasuke! Y’know Kurama doesn’t like genjutsu.”
He was ignored but Teme didn’t try anything like that again.
Sakura just broke the floor underneath them or picked Naruto up and threw him at Sasuke. That wasn’t very effective when Sasuke caught him, then dropped him in a manner he could easily go back to running. Which was honestly too nice of him.
Naruto made sure to re-pay the favor by tripping both of them with ninja wire he had seen lying on the ground. The trap had already been set by a few genin, so he only had to divert their attention to trap them both in it. He did that by shouting, “Tsunade, and tomatoes suck!”
Before they could respond, they both tripped. Naruto stopped for a moment, turned on his heel, and stuck his tongue out.
At the end, they all tried to enter Kakashi’s office at the same time. So obviously, they all got stuck in the window frame. Sakura’s elbow was in Naruto’s face, Sasuke was smushed against the frame, Naruto was stuck in the middle, trying to get out while keeping them from getting in.
“You’re such a bitch!”
“Hn.”
“Get your elbow out of my face dattebayo!”
All three of them struggled until Kakashi laughed. He had stepped a line, and Naruto looked at Sasuke and Sakura. Before they could all agree to put their differences aside to insult their sensei, all three of them fell out the window. The wind slammed into Naruto’s back and his only thought was why did this have to happen to him twice today.
Sakura caught his arm and he caught Sasuke’s, creating a chain. They all entered his office in a single file line, meaning Sakura won because she was at the front, at least Naruto got second.
“HAHA I WON!”
Her smug tone was the last thing he ever wanted to hear before a familiar voice cut in. “Technically, my cute student, I won because I was here first.”
The look Sakura sent him would kill any man capable of experiencing shame. “Hey sensei before I forget, can you check out a seal for me?”
Naruto pulled the seal out and handed it to Kakashi who just shrugged. He was surprised when the elder channeled his chakra without looking at the seal first. The other stopped.
Suddenly, he felt his chakra being drained by an alarming pace. Looking over at Sasuke and Sakura, they felt it too. With horror written on his face, sensei unfolded the seal.
The previous sealing ink was smudged with his blood. Damnit! Why hadn’t he checked it over.
“We’re fucked.” His sensei helpfully contributed to the conversation.
Naruto had never wanted to punch someone in the face as much as he did that moment.
“Why is it draining our chakra?”
“Because that’s the way it was designed, right dobe?”
Sasuke looked at him expectantly, the only words Naruto could choke out was. “It was supposed to be a Hiraishin.”
Then he blacked out.