Fukōhei Arc

Chapter Two

Naruto stared at his new roommate, his cerulean eyes raking over her features. Sakura stared back, both of them sitting cross-legged on the twin mattress Naruto slept on. One of the ANBU was getting another mattress as the other two patrolled.

“You have the Sanbi.” Naruto stated bluntly.

“You have the Kyūbi.” Sakura replied, her voice still quiet even after the stuttering had left. It had been a week since she had spoken to the Sandaime in the hospital, and six days since she was told about Naruto.

“Your parents were killed and Kiri tried to use you as a bijū time bomb.” Naruto noticed as she winced at the reminder of the ordeal. He didn’t care; they seemed to be stating facts anyway.

“You’ve been orphaned and everyone in the village hates you.”

“They’ll hate you too once they’re told.”

“Sandaime-sama is gonna tell them?” Sakura asked, worry evident in her voice.

“Not everythin’, just that you’re a….a….jin…jinchūriki! Yeah, a jinchūriki like me. They’ll probably think you’re possessed though.”

“But that’s stupid! I don’t feel possessed! I haven’t even heard from the Sanbi!”

“I haven’t talked to the Kyūbi. It’s only a matter of time, though. And the villagers don’t care; they’ll believe whatever they want. The ANBU will be fightin’ off assassins again soon.”

“A-assassins?”

“They’ve been slowin’ down for a while, but with you here they’ll start coming more again.”

“How do you know so much?” Sakura questioned, tilting her head to the side. Her pink locks had been recently cut by Cat-san, now going down to her shoulders and her bangs were held away from her eyes by a red ribbon.

“I listen to people.”

“But Dog-san said you were an idiot.”

“Well, Dog-san is an idiot.”

“You’re such a rude brat.” Kakashi grumbled, walking into the bedroom pulling a mattress behind him. Another Kakashi entered the room with a bed frame, pushing it into the corner across from the one Naruto’s bed was stuffed against. Dropping the mattress on to the frame, Kakashi turned to his shadow clone.

“Make it.”

“Why don’t you?” Kakashi 2 questioned.

“Because you’re the clone.”

“Hn.” The clone went back to the living room to get the bag of sheets they bought while Kakashi turned to the two kids that were staring at him in confusion.

“Kage Bunshin.”

“They’re physical?” Sakura asked in surprise, getting a nod from the ANBU.

“Cat-san is getting you two dinner. You’ll be staying off the streets for a week until the village can settle down to the news.” Kakashi informed.

“Jiji already told them?” Naruto questioned in surprise.

Kakashi shook his head. “He will in the morning.”

“Ah, ‘kay.” Nodding, the two kids watched as Kakashi 2 walked in, grumbling as he set to work fixing the bed with the pink sheets and red comforter. Naruto’s bed had black sheets and an orange comforter, his night cap lying on his pillow next to a stuffed frog.

“Thanks, Dog-san.” Sakura said, glancing at the clone as it nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The ANBU nodded, heading over to the closed window but before he could jump out, Naruto spoke.

“What’re we s’pose to do for a week?”

“I don’t know. Figure something out.” The ANBU shrugged.

“Can you teach us some jutsu?”

“What?” Kakashi turned back to them, staring at Sakura in surprise. Naruto matched his look before slowly nodding.

“Yeah, Dog-san! I’m gonna be the Hokage, so I gotta start learnin’ stuff, dattebayo!”

Kakashi sweatdropped, feeling a headache fast approaching. He had a feeling the kids wouldn’t let him rest – or read – until he obliged their request.

____

“You taught them what?” The Sandaime questioned, leveling a glare at the trio of ANBU. They took a step back, glancing at each other nervously. That was, until Naruto bounced over to the Hokage’s desk and started speak—er, yelling.

“Deal with it jiji! You’re just scared that I’m gonna get more awesome than you, ‘ttebayo!”

A sweatdrop formed on the back of the Sandaime’s head as he looked down at the Yondaime’s Legacy.

“Naruto….”

“They already mastered the leaf exercise, so they should be able to move on to tree climbing. They have the chakra for it.” Kakashi pointed out.

“….that was an exercise? You had us keep it on our foreheads for hours!” Naruto complained.

“It builds up your concentration.” The Sandaime explained, glancing between the two children. Sakura’s eyes were getting brighter, clearer. She was getting over the incident far more quickly than expected. Most likely due to Naruto, Hiruzen observed.

“Fine. But if they pass out because of chakra exhaustion, you’re the one in trouble.” Hiruzen smirked as he felt Kakashi’s dread. Chuckling from Cat-san and Jaguar-san was the only thing heard before they were dismissed and disappeared with the two five year olds.

“I wish you luck.” Hiruzen muttered to the empty room.

____

“Argh! Why is this so hard?! It’s been a month!” Naruto exclaimed, rubbing his butt as he got up from where he had fallen off wall. Due to not being able to go outside, the two children were forced to train on the apartment’s walls. They had to take special care to only put too little chakra too, due to pushing too much to their feet would make the wall explode. They would go out into the forest, but the duo had found that walking on the wall was more easier than the rough bark of trees.

“It’s most likely due to having large reserves. Your seals make it so your bijū’s chakra mixes with yours and causes it to grow.” Cat-san commented, appearing in the apartment with a bag full of takeout.

“Is that safe?” Sakura questioned warily, wiping sweat from her forehead as she and Naruto headed to the kitchen table.

“Perfectly. The chakra is only being leaked in small portions, making the bijū unable to bust out of their seals.”

“Ah.” The pink haired girl nodded, taking a seat across from Naruto as the ANBU pulled out two bowls of steaming ramen sealed shut. It was Naruto’s turn to choose dinner, and he of course had chosen Ichiraku’s.

“Miso and beef. Here’s some chopsticks, don’t burn yourselves.” The purple haired female said affectionately before disappearing out the kitchen window. Jaguar-san took his place inside the apartment, seeing as it was his turn to relax inside while the other two patrolled the parameter.

“Still not getting it?” The brunet questioned, taking his canteen from his belt and moving his head so that the kids couldn’t see under his mask as he lifted it enough to drink.

“No.” Naruto muttered, his mouth full of noodles as he slurped. Sakura was eating slower than her friend, though she was still rushed. She had found that after The Incident she had a larger calorie intake, yet never gained a pound. She suspected the bijū caused her to have more energy than before, increasing her metabolism tenfold. Judging from Naruto’s diet, Sakura bet she wasn’t far off the mark.

“Try the leaf exercise some more. It’ll help you chakra move to your feet easier.” The ANBU suggested, causing the two jinchūriki to glance over at him before nodding slowly at his suggestion.

____

“W-we….we did it!” Naruto crowed, grinning over at Sakura as they stood on the roof. The pink haired girl smiled brightly, even as she tucked her red shirt into her blue shorts so that it would fall down. Naruto glanced down and frowned at his orange shirt riding up to reveal his ribs.

Pushing it under his black shorts, Naruto turned his head towards the window. “Dog-san! We finished it!”

The called ANBU appeared inside the apartment, holding back a snort at the sight of the two children on the roof. “Great job. Now for the harder part.”

“Harder part?!” Naruto demanded, frowning.

“Of course. There’s still water walking.”

“Water….you can walk on water?” Sakura questioned curiously. At Kakashi’s nod, both kids started grinning widely.

“Let’s do it!”

“It requires more chakra control than the tree—er, wall walking exercise. Continue doing this for a week and then we’ll take you out to a river.”

“Hai, Dog-sensei!” Naruto saluted, Sakura quickly following as the ANBU gave them a deadpan look.

“Right….” Hopping back outside the room, Kakashi frowned at the sight of Cat and Jaguar.

“Dog-sensei?” Jaguar questioned with a snicker.

“Shut up, Tenzō.”

____

“This sucks!” Naruto snarled, glaring at the water as he stood in the river, completely soaked. The only good thing about the river was that the bank only had the water going up to their knees.

Sakura frowned, glancing over at her fellow jinchūriki as she also fell from the water’s surface. “Don’t be so loud, Naruto-chan.”

“But Sakura-kun!” Naruto whined, shaking his shoes out as he stumbled to the bank. Sakura sighed at the honorific. She had started calling the blond ‘Naruto-chan’ ever since he had added ‘-kun’  to her name, something she disapproved of but went along with.

“We should start wearing bathing suits.” Sakura pointed out, following Naruto and simply pulling off her shoes so that she wouldn’t get them more soaked than they already were.

“Yeah.” Naruto frowned, pulling off one of his shoes and sweatdropping at the water that fell out when he held it upside down. Dropping it beside Sakura’s shoes, Naruto took off his other one before heading back over to the river. Letting out a sigh, Sakura followed. She wasn’t as stubborn as Naruto, not by a long shot, but the water walking exercise was running her temper thin.

____

“Taijutsu?” Naruto questioned curiously, looking up at Kakashi. He was soaked, as was Sakura. Two months and they had finally gotten a hang of the water walking – an impressive feat for two five year old jinchūriki who have chakra control deficiencies.

“I’ll teach you some katas and once you can do them all properly you’ll spar. After you get good enough, I’ll talk to the Hokage about giving you weights.” Kakashi explained, crouching down so he was eye level with the two.

“Weights?” Sakura questioned curiously.

“Only eight pounds at first. Two pounds on each wrist and ankle. It’ll weigh you down so you’ll build up your strength and whenever you take them off, you’ll be that much faster.”

“Cool!” Naruto cheered, throwing his arms up and launching himself at Kakashi. The ANBU only grunted, hesitantly patting the blond’s head as he hung off Kakashi’s waist.

“Okay….let go now.” The silver-haired man ordered.

“Embarrassed?” Cat-san called over to her teammate.

“Shut up and get back to work.”

A snicker was heard before a fluttering of leaves signified that she went back to scouting. Letting out a deep sigh, Kakashi motioned to himself to gain the duo’s attention.

“Alright, here’s the first kata.”

____

“Sakura-kun?” Naruto called, staring up at the ceiling. The room was dark, the light of the full moon reflecting in from the doors leading to porch that overlooked the village. Naruto turned his head, finding Sakura’s emerald eyes glinting from the light as she stared out the sliding glass doors.

“Yes, Naruto-chan?”

“….do you wanna be a ninja?”

Sakura blinked slowly, throwing away the first comment about how she was already training to be a ninja. Did she really want to be one? After what happened….did she really want to put herself in danger?

But what about those who aren’t ninja? They’re always in danger, and unable to protect themselves. Just like she was.

“I want to be able to protect myself and those I care for.” Sakura said after a few minutes of silence. Naruto stared at her, looking at the resolve as it hardened her eyes.

Grinning brightly, Naruto nodded. “I’ll be right beside ya, Sakura-kun! Wanna help me be Hokage?”

Sakura blinked, glancing over at her….friend. Cerulean eyes were bright in the dim room, only dim compared to the grin stretching across his features. Giving a smile of her own, Sakura nodded. “Of course, Naruto-chan.”

Who knows….maybe he’ll actually get there?