Chapter Text
“Deo!” Naruto reprimanded sharply, although Sakura did not miss the underlying fondness in his tone.
Her first introduction to Tadeo had gone over smoothly enough, should anyone ask. She had seen glimpses of him outside of the academy when her parents picked her up. She had asked them, once, if she could go pet him, but as soon as they noticed who was with the dog, they refused sternly.
It had struck Sakura as odd, but only in a selfish sort of way where she was mainly focused on her childish anger at her parents for denying her. By the time they had reached her house, she had already forgotten the incident.
Now, the memory resurfaced as she watched Naruto pick Tadeo up to prevent him from bothering the cat who had become a regular guest at Naruto’s apartment. He deposited the dog on Sasuke’s lap, who seemed unbothered by the invasion, and went over to greet the intruder.
“Good evening, you old hag,” he stated as though talking to another person. Despite his words, he scratched beneath her chin before rummaging through his cupboards for his new stash of cat food. “I know you only like me because I feed you,” he accused.
Sakura was not so sure that was the case.
Team 7 was still muddling their way through D-rank missions, much to her chagrin. When Kakashi had greeted them last week – late as usual – with an infuriating quirk to his eyes, Sakura knew that her day was only going to get worse.
“Catch the Cat!” the D-rank file declared. Sasuke and Sakura had shuddered in unison. Genin tended to enjoy scaring the academy students, and horror stories of a vicious creature masquerading as a cat had made their circulation in the trainee gossip mill.
Sakura had actually attempted to punch her sensei that day. She had missed the evasive bastard, of course, but one day she wouldn’t.
Naruto, as usual, had seemed unperturbed by the news. In fact, Naruto seemed unperturbed by life in general. She had yet to see him become frustrated, regardless of how many menial tasks they were forced to complete. He always worked efficiently, never asking to take breaks or complain.
Part of her hoped one day he would snap and try to strangle Kakashi. He had the best odds of the three of them.
Despite her fears, the cat mission had been an overwhelming success. Locating the cat had been the hardest part, but once they had her in their sights, Naruto had told them to stay back and he himself had sat down in the middle of the clearing.
She had stopped doubting Naruto weeks ago. He was strange, yes, but he was far from foolish. His actions and words were calculated, even with such simple things as morning greetings.
Sakura had been right to put her faith in her teammate, as it had not taken long for the cat to emerge from the shrubbery and rub itself against Naruto’s crossed legs as though this was a normal occurrence and the only acceptable course of action.
Naruto had given her a few good scritches before scooping her up. The cat had purred the entire way back to where Kakashi was waiting with the cat’s owner.
The cat’s days of mischief and escape were far from over, but the cat had taken to meowing loudly outside Naruto’s window, utterly unrepentant in his disruption. Tadeo had immediately decided that cat would be his best friend, and he attempted to get her to play with him constantly. The cat, however, only returned the attention with distasteful glances as she stayed out of his reach.
Sakura had tried to name the cat unsuccessfully. “Hag is a perfectly good name,” Naruto informed her in the face of her disapproval. She and Sasuke stuck to calling her Cat in compromise.
It was a concession she was more than willing to take, given that her own presence in Naruto’s apartment when Kakashi let them go was relatively new. The first few weeks, she had trudged home alone after watching the two boys’ backs as they walked together in the opposite direction. She knew the Uchiha compound was not that way and could easily conclude the boys were off to do something together.
The first time Naruto had invited her to join them, she had immediately looked to Sasuke for a protest. He had returned her gaze steadily, but there was no sign that he did not want her to accept. So she had, tentatively, and for the first time walked with them.
Sakura had not expected to be led to a rather rundown apartment complex, and almost wondered if she was being taken to a sketchy location to be killed. It probably said something about her that she followed them anyway. She had calmed down and had become more confident, but her need to be involved and to belong had never quite faded.
Her fears were soon soothed when they had reached a door and Naruto pulled out keys to unlock it.
There was nothing glamorous about Naruto’s apartment, but it was homely in the way her own house was not. Her parents enjoyed having guests over, and the rooms were more decorative than anything. Naruto’s apartment, in turn, was honest. There were no attempts made to hide that it was beaten down. It had three rooms: bedroom, bathroom, and a cramped room the seemed to suffice as both a kitchen and living room.
She had made herself at home in the corner of his ugly yet surprisingly comfortable couch, and the three of them hiding out in Naruto’s apartment to talk and read became a welcome routine.
-
A knock at his door made Iruka look up from the tests he had been grading. He did not often get visitors, and he did his best to keep his address hidden so that angry parents didn’t try to bother him at home. Curious, he got up and went to answer.
The last person he would have expected was Naruto, but there he stood in the flesh. He seemed almost hesitant, more unsure than he expected from the boy who had always been quietly confident as a student.
“Naruto,” he greeted. “It’s good to see you, you look well.” Surprisingly, even to himself, he meant it. Regardless of his learned biased against Naruto, he had moved past it to see the boy beneath the horrible misfortune out of his control.
“Hey, Iruka-sensei,” Naruto replied, and Iruka almost corrected him that he was no longer his teacher. “I know that we were never really that close, and that I was your student, and you didn’t really like me at first-“ Iruka cringed internally, he had hoped he had hidden his feelings better “-but you were nice to me and I was wondering if you could maybe help me out with something.”
It was all said very quickly, and Iruka could tell Naruto was waiting for the door to be slammed in his face.
“Of course I’ll help if I can,” he offered. He owed the boy that much, and something about making amends for his slight against a child – he was an infant when the very thing he was hated for occurred, this village should be ashamed of itself. Iruka certainly was.
“Tadeo!” the boy called, and after a moment a small dog limped slightly around the corner, tongue lolling and tail wagging. Naruto crouched down to greet him, and the dog happily tried to lick his face, something that made Naruto laugh. It was a pure moment, and Iruka hoped one day this happiness he had never before witnessed from Naruto would become common.
Standing back up, Naruto again addressed him. “I’m going out of the village for a mission. It shouldn’t be more than a few weeks, but I can’t bring Tadeo with me.” It was very clear what he was asking of Iruka. “He’s very self-sufficient,” Naruto assured him quickly. “But he gets sick when he goes through the trash and he can’t hunt anymore since his leg is messed up, so I need someone to feed him.”
“I think I can manage that,” Iruka responded, accepting the responsibility. “What should I feed him?”
Naruto shook his head, his eyes grateful and his lips quirked in a slight smile. “Oh, no, don’t worry. I’ll bring his food over tomorrow before I leave if that’s okay.”
“I’ll be here,” Iruka confirmed. It would be a weekend, and he had always gotten up early.
Naruto offered him a proper smile. “Thank you so much,” he breathed, obviously relieved.
After the boy had left, Iruka wondered what it said about Naruto that the person he went to about caring for his dog was his old teacher who was relatively kind to him in a distant sort of way. More than anything, it made him sad. He resolved to take very good care of Tadeo. He did not need to give Naruto one more reason that humans were needlessly cruel.
-
When Kakashi had presented his team with a C-rank mission, Sakura had audibly cheered. He had worried for a second that she would try to hug him. A punch would be much more welcome.
He had only been to the Land of Waves a few times. It was a relatively small village of civilians. For all that Konoha seemed peaceful, it was a military state. When looking at the available missions, Kakashi had decided that an escort mission of a civilian to a civilian location would be a good first step.
Kakashi was proud of himself for making such a responsible decision.
He regrated it now, however, as the man they were escorting was properly insufferable. His presence almost overshadowed the raw amazement in Naruto’s eyes as he took in the forest outside of the village. Almost was the key word, as Naruto’s awe clenched Kakashi’s heart in its grasp.
There was a sort of freedom in being beyond the village walls, Kakashi knew, but for Naruto who had likely thought he would never be allowed to leave, this moment was important.
Naruto Uzumaki may have been a menace, but he was also a child. A child Kakashi was responsible for. Perhaps, he supposed as he checked in on Sasuke and Sakura, he could care for this team after all.
-
There is something wrong. The forest makes him itchy, and the ground beneath his feet pulses with discomfort. There is a puddle in the path ahead of them. Naruto pokes it with his chakra, but the response almost makes him flinch. The water is a lie, and the realization is followed by the understanding that there are people there even if he can’t see them.
Genjutus makes him uncomfortable. It never fools him, but the way it twists chakra into something false makes him feel sick.
He turns his head to subtly look at Kakashi in askance. Kakashi offers back a slight nod but seems overall unconcerned. Naruto can see how he has forced his muscles to relax and the sharpness of his gaze that was missing a moment ago.
He cannot catch Sakura’s eyes, but when he turns to Sasuke, he conveys that something is wrong with his expression. Sasuke did not question him, and instead began his own surveillance of their surroundings.
Only Tazuna and Sakura are surprised when two shinobi burst out of the ground, false water disappearing. Despite now being faced with two dangerous enemies, something settles in the back of Naruto’s mind, and he is able to focus on the situation at hand properly.
