Chapter Text
Splat. Plop. Splat. Plop. Splat. Plop.
Rain was comforting, in some ways, but in others it could be a pain. However, right now, listening to the water droplets hit the forest floor from the leaves, smelling the dampness of the earth—a scent that he'd recently learned was called petrichor, and was his all time most favorite scent—feeling the thunder rumbling through the sky above and ground below… it was comforting. Normally when he could actually get immersed in a storm he was too uncomfortable – wet, sticky, filthy, battered, bruised, exhausted – to enjoy it.
Despite that, it was still intensely familiar, though. Comforting in a way that nothing else was, because when it was storming, he was safe. Nobody bothered to come after him, to chase him, to throw things at him, to yell at him, to strike him. They all stayed safe in their homes, shops, and stalls, ignoring the malnourished form flitting through the alleyways in the hopes of being exactly that – ignored.
Today was a very good day though. He was safe and dry in this hollow of roots, and had stolen some fruit to eat. He liked fruit, it was sweet, smooth, gentle, and soothing on his tongue and on his stomach. It was readily available no matter the time of year, in Konoha, too.
The eleven year old hummed to himself as he bit into the pear again, chewing thoroughly and eating slowly – he knew better than to gorge himself after nearly a week without anything to eat. He learned that lesson early in his life, which he knew wasn't fair, but really, what was the point in complaining? Life wasn't fair. People weren't fair.
Even Hokage-jii-san, as much as he tried, couldn't make fair decisions all the time. Because people didn't like him, and so when their leader's back was turned, those decisions often backfired on him. One day, he vowed, he would find out why everyone hated him so much; but he knew that day would be ages in the future. He was a child, and even as smart as he was – he had to hide himself. Because something inside of his mind insisted that the stupider he made everyone think he was, the less they would fear-hate-despise-loathe him.
He listened to those insistent thoughts that poked him all-too-often, because that commanding voice had saved his life before, and more than just once.
Finishing the pear, he hurled the remains into the forest for birds to eat the core, and looked at his loot. There was a pile of fruit waiting for him to eat. And it was all thanks to the Academy. Well, halfway, anyhow.
He might be dead-last in class, and he might not be able to do the stupid leaf-sticking exercise, but they'd recently learned the three basic jutsu that all ninja were supposed to know. Of course, he couldn't do the stupid bunshin jutsu either, but kawarimi was awesome and his henge was flawless. The combination of the two – shopping disguised, and then replacing himself with something from across the street – meant that he could actually eat decently for once. It helped that henge meant he could look different every time, so each stall or store he went to couldn't connect a similar appearance to the missing food items.
Granted, it took him a solid two weeks to get it down, because he didn't have any decent reflective surfaces to train with, but the lake he'd discovered further into the forest three days ago had helped tons. Which reminded him…
Graduation was tomorrow.
Uzumaki Naruto was going to fail miserably.
…Mostly because he couldn't stand his classmates, they treated him like shit, and he knew his teachers would fail him even if he made perfect scores on everything; they hated him just like everybody but Hokage-jii-san and the staff at Ichiraku's did.
Maybe next year wouldn't be so bad.
Tch, as if.
They tested him on the bunshin, of course, rather than kawarimi or henge. Stupid, useless, pointless clones.
He knew what his problem was – after all, he was very good at being sneaky and hiding, and subsequently was very good at hearing important and/or necessary and/or useful things. The problem with Naruto was that his chakra control was miserable, mainly because he had way more than anybody else his age had. Thoroughly henged, and so being in disguise, he'd gone to the least-mean of his teachers, looking like some student he didn't know but who also struggled with leaf-sticking, and learned that meditation could help, as well as got tips on five other chakra control exercises that were usually within genin-range. He wasn't a genin yet – might never be one if this kept up, honestly – but he knew he was about the level of one already if his pranking skills were taken seriously.
Naruto was a master of traps, and only disguised them as pranks to make people think he was just that dumb.
He was proud of the fact that he never got caught unless he felt like it. It wasn't everyone who could honestly say they could outrun chūnin corps members and ANBU regularly at the age of eleven.
So, now that the Academy was let out for a month until next school year, Naruto drove himself into exhaustion, which was actually pretty hard to do as he got older, stopping only when he knew he needed to rest or he could hurt himself. Food was a necessity, but he could go bother Hokage-jii-san and get a free meal sometimes, and other times he did his now-habitual disguised shopping. Sometimes he stole, but doing so wasn't his favorite thing to do. He knew that it was kind of okay when there was no other choice, but Hokage-jii-san had set him up with an allowance once he failed his exam – ironic, that – so it wasn't really necessary any more. He was still getting out of the habit though, which was a bit tough.
Having a constant roof over his head made him feel uncomfortable though. Trapped, even. Hokage-jii-san meant well, and money was nice – he could actually buy new clothes and practice weapons now, holy crap – but Naruto had been kicked out of the orphanage when he was four. Over half his life ago now. The streets sucked; absolutely – but at least when living on them he had had innumerable places to run and hide. Now, all the people who had grudges had to do was head there to his apartment, knowing he would eventually show up.
Not to mention his landlord hated him like everyone else, his electricity was cut off half the time, and the hot water didn't work, ever.
Was it any surprise he lived off of instant ramen, fruit, and what veggies he could eat without getting sick?
Speaking of, he needed to stock up on more food tomorrow.
Right now he was in the forest just outside the village in his usual clearing, trying to make a napkin float.
…It wasn't going well. The damn thing kept shredding any time his attention faltered even the slightest bit.
'Right. Close your eyes. Feel the chakra flowing through your body. The smooth, even flow of energy. Focus it in your hands. As little as you possibly can. Slowly… slowly… just a tiny bit, Naruto. That's it. Open your eyes.'
It was fluttering, which was progress!
Thump. Crack. Thud. Snap. Thunk. Crash.
The napkin shredded, but Naruto could care less about that – because a body landed not ten feet away and Naruto yelped, seeing a Konoha hitai-ate splattered with blood, a pale face—halfway covered in a dark blue cloth mask—that was streaked with grime, and the still, unmoving form of an adult he had never seen before.
'ShitshitshitwhatdoIdohecouldbeinjuredandI'mtoosmalltocarryhimwhenI'mlikethisandohshitWHATDOIDO-'
Calm down, kit.
There it was, he recognized distantly, that voice that always helped him. He did as it said, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply, thoroughly ignoring the stench of blood and gore that met his sensitive nose. Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat.
When he was calmer, he took stock of the situation again and crawled slowly over to the ninja. First he hovered a hand over the cloth mask, relieved to feel hot air puffing against his palm, and slowly – oh so slowly – rolled the man over. There were no obvious injuries, which was potentially really bad. It meant that there was a good chance the injuries were either physically internal, or having to do with chakra. At least he could have bandaged up cuts and splinted broken bones. He'd done it for himself until the cuts started going away in less and less time, after all.
Closing his eyes, Naruto focused on the chakra around him, tuning out the not-really-chakra energy produced by the plants and trees, and turning his senses towards the body in front of him. Pine, steel, blood, chamomile. His chakra sense came almost like smells or tastes did, maybe even a mix of both, meaning he recognized chakra signatures way more easily than faces and names, but this one was mostly unfamiliar. He was likely to be current or former ANBU though; there was something in their chakra signatures that gave them all the scent-taste of blood. It was kind of creepy, honestly, but eh. You live your life surrounded by something and it becomes background noise eventually.
ANBU, however, meant that he had to be triply careful and cautious. They were really dangerous. With or without their porcelain masks on.
There was a pond nearby, so he got some water in his canteen – he loved his canteen, it was so useful, definitely the best gift that Hokage-jii-san had gotten him thus far – and slowly dripped it onto the ninja's face, body tensed in such a way that he could backflip out of the way if the guy woke up violently.
That turned out to be a good idea, as the man did indeed wake up swinging; a kunai thrown in his direction that he just barely dodged with a twist of his body after flipping away. "Gah! Please don't throw stuff at me, ninja-san! You're just outside of Konoha, and I'm still an academy student!"
The tensed body in front of him relaxed minutely, its singular grey eye roving around until it focused intently on him. Naruto sat down smoothly, crossing his legs and resting his hands on his knees, palms up, so that the ninja could see that he wasn't armed. He kept himself forcibly relaxed, not wanting to seem in any way, shape, or form a threat to the ANBU-san. Not that a kid like him was actually dangerous, but some ninja were very suspicious, even of kids – or at least of him – especially when they were injured or exhausted.
The ninja cleared his throat and fluidly arranged himself across from Naruto. "Maa, what's a kid doing outside the gates?"
Naruto flushed, looking away slightly. "It's the only way I can practice the ninja stuff I'm supposed to be learning in peace. Plus, it feels safer in the forest than in the city, and most of the forests inside the gates have people in them at one point or another except at night."
At least this ninja wasn't being mean to him. Probably didn't recognize him though, considering that when he was sneaking out of the city, Naruto dressed in clothes other than his typical brightly colored outfits just in case his henge wavered before he dismissed it.
He'd take what he could get.
Hatake Kakashi was running on fumes, so it was little surprise that at first, he didn't recognize the boy who woke him up from what was probably a decently worrying fall. When he heard the nervous voice asking – not pleading, just asking, how odd – for him to not throw anything else, he finally got an eyeful, beyond catching a surprisingly agile backflip and a bodily twist that had kept the kid away from his accurately thrown kunai, if only barely.
His first proper glimpse was an almost agonizingly painful superimposition of his Sensei's face onto the face of the kid, and he immediately knew who he had had the luck, or lack thereof, to meet. Uzumaki Naruto. Sensei and Kushina-nee's kid. The Kyūbi jinchūriki. The child that – unknowingly and without a choice in the matter – had saved them all.
Oh, it completely hurt to see the skinny – borderline malnourished, to be honest – form holding himself so cautiously, his body language purposefully non-aggressive, forcibly relaxed. No child should know how to hold themselves that carefully, that cautiously. The wariness in those cornflower blue eyes physically ached too, as did the way the kid flinched away when he lifted his hand up to run calloused fingers through his filthy hair. Eugh, he needed a shower.
He wanted – wanted so, so badly – to ignore those words that Naruto spoke. To ignore the existence of this blatantly mistreated child. To stick his head back into the sand and continue being an ostrich. Can't see, can't hear, can't feel.
He'd spent the last near-decade not feeling. Couldn't he just go back to that? Please?
The ache in his chest as more and more information piled up made it impossible though.
"Maa, alright. Thanks for waking me up, kid. Sorry about the kunai."
Naruto shrugged bonelessly and nodded, "It's okay, ninja-san. I expected it. Um, but. Your chakra's really low. Can you make it back alright? I can help if you want."
Kakashi took the offer seriously, wondering slightly that Naruto had chakra-senses refined enough to notice that. This wasn't a braggart of a child exclaiming about being Hokage one day, claiming they were awesome. It was clear that that was at least partially an act, because right now he felt entirely steady, stable, and reliable. He did wonder how the kid could help him, before Naruto flushed darkly at his questioning gaze, and explained, "Um, my henge is pretty thorough."
Eh? Poor kid, he really didn't get it did he? "Henge is an illusion, kid."
The startled blink and deep confusion on the blonde's face was interesting, if also worrying, as he softly questioned, "But? How come I hit my head all those times then?"
The comment made Kakashi do a double-take, as he realized he had to do damage control, now. "Are you saying your transformation is solid?"
A wary look entered his companion's eyes, but after a few moments the blonde nodded cautiously. "Um. Yeah."
'Fuck. Could this be related to the Kyūbi? Regardless, this can't get out. If anyone finds out that Naruto has a solid henge, he'll never be safe. I don't think even Hokage-sama should know, because he puts too much faith in people that don't deserve it sometimes, like Elder Danzō. Fuck. I don't want to get tangled up in this right now! But… I can't, cannot ignore Sensei's kid any more. I shouldn't have done it to begin with.'
"Don't tell anyone this, okay kid? I'm serious. If people know, they might come after you."
The sheer understanding in that serious gaze was incredibly, acutely uncomfortable and damn-near painful to Kakashi. No kid should get that so deeply. Fuck.
"I understand, ninja-san. I won't tell anybody. But um, I might as well head back in? So uh, if you need help? The offer is still open? I mean, yeah, they won't recognize me, but I know genjutsu can fix that or something, and besides, if you vouch for me I'm sure-"
It would be tricky to manage, but Kakashi thought he could make it work, so he cut the boy's babbling off. "I'll be glad for some help. I can help you help me without pushing myself into chakra exhaustion. Thanks, kid."
He eye-smiled and the gratified, supremely happy look on the thin face damn-near broke his heart. 'Oh, kid, just what have you lived through while I ignored your existence entirely? Sensei, Kushina-nee; please forgive me. I'll try harder, I swear it. I won't ignore your son any more. Not if I can help it.'
Naruto beamed at the ninja who was accepting his help and stood up, dusting off his shirt and shorts as he henged into a man about the same height and bulk as the ninja, feeling his body expand, his muscles become defined, and his facial features shifting to become some random mixture of faces he saw somewhere some time. The trick to being overlooked was to not look like anyone specific, but rather to get the correct mixture of features that made you seem familiar, but ignorable. His clothes similarly morphed to become a shirt and trousers in a dusty tan that was common to the workers in the fields outside of the village.
He didn't miss the intensity of the grey gaze watching him transform, and he crouched down to help the ninja stand up, feeling a delicate chakra web settling over him as he helped lead the adult – which was kinda hilarious honestly, him actually helping a ninja-san – out of the forest and towards the gate. He was totally ignored, as if he wasn't there, and thankful for that as usual. Then he helped the ninja get to the Hokage's tower so that he could make whatever reports he had to make, and pulled him into an alley right before the entrance.
He looked around and listened to make sure nobody else could be listening in, extending his chakra-sense for a double confirmation of privacy, and nodded firmly after closing his eyes for a second. "I can't go in there, Hokage-jii-san might recognize my chakra. And, um. I'm not going to tell even him about my henge. But, um, If you ever need help that you don't want other people to know about, look me up, I'm good at being sneaky. I know I can't trust everyone – I'm not that stupid – but my gut tells me your advice about my henge might save my life, so I'm grateful for it. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, um, okay, bye!"
He dashed off before he could see any judgment, dislike, or anger in that lone grey eye, weaving through the crowds and hiding in a convenient abandoned backyard to henge into himself once more.
So much for practicing his chakra control.
Well, there was always tomorrow.