Chapter 5: Chapter 5 : Welcome to the Zoo(3)
Two months. It had been two months since he joined Team Ro and they still treated him like trash.
He was officially the team's sensor and not a front-liner, which is what he wanted to be, and the missions they carried out had little use for his abilities. He did spot an enemy ambush two weeks ago, but apparently that wasn't something that warranted much respect.
He had been training for so long and he still couldn't wake up. It was somewhat annoying.
Nezumi was currently sprinting through the forests that occupied the border of Hi no Kuni and Tsuchi no Kuni with Tora and Usagi, two of the people who disliked him the most. Inu-taicho said that if he worked with them more that they would have to warm up to him sooner or later. Nezumi highly doubted that but followed orders all the same.
The three of them were doing a simple border patrol, making sure everyone stayed in their own countries. Simple enough, right?
Nothing was ever simple.
Nezumi signaled to the two, stopping their fast paced travel. "What is it, kid?" Tora asked, annoyed that the blonde was holding them up.
Two people are headed right for us. He signed in ANBU code. They aren't friendly either. He took another second to analyze the incoming shinobi, trying to understand what it was he was feeling.
His eyes widened. "Shit." He whispered, causing his comrades to take defensive stances. What they heard in his voice made them wary. What was going on?
'They must have felt me as well…' the blond thought to himself. 'If Tora and Usagi die because of me…'
"Get out of here you two," Nezumi whispered. His tone was serious.
The only female of the group, Usagi, spoke up. "Look kid, no matter how special you think you are, you can't just order your senpai's around." She was giving off an annoyed emotion, Nezumi could tell. "You're still just a brat."
The blond sighed. Were these people ever going to show him respect? So far Inu was the only person to welcome him into the fold.
"Usagi-senpai, there are two Jinchuuriki on their way from the direction of Tsuchi no Kuni." He informed them. "They have probably felt my Bijuu's presence and decided to investigate."
He could feel their fear.
"Don't worry; they're here for me, not you." He tried to calm them. "Go. If I don't return, then Konoha will know where they stand with Iwa."
He felt their disbelieving minds. "You're going to sacrifice yourself for us?" Tora asked, astounded. It was no secret that both he and Usagi hated Nezumi, so why the hell was he doing this? "Why?"
The two ANBU's hearts almost broke when he took his mask off and smiled at them, of all things. "Because we're comrades. You'd do the same for me if it was the other way around."
Nezumi sometimes wished he couldn't feel peoples hearts.
No we wouldn't…
Nezumi steeled himself, ANBU didn't cry. "Now go," he repeated, "this is my fight." And with that, he turned around and took off in the direction of the fast approaching Iwa-nin. It was a warm and sunny day, the complete opposite of what it should have been. He was sacrificing himself for people who didn't even see him as a person. He just couldn't bring himself to care though. This was it.
Time to wake up.
It had taken hours to regroup with Inu-taicho and the rest of the squad, but when Usagi and Tora explained what had transpired earlier in their border patrol, they regretted it.
"You're worse than trash now." Inu's cold voice hit Tora and Usagi like an enraged Tsunade. "How could you just leave him to die like that?" The worst part about it was that he wasn't even yelling at them. He was speaking in a soft and very scary voice.
"But he…" Usagi tried to defend herself but couldn't think of anything to say. They had abandoned someone who truly cared for them. They knew of his abilities to feel almost what others thought. He must have known what their response was to his attempt to establish a bond.
The two ANBU's hearts almost broke when he took his mask off and smiled at them of all things. "Because we're comrades, you'd do the same for me if it was the other way around."
Nezumi sometimes wished he couldn't feel people's hearts.
No we wouldn't…
They didn't get the chance to speak again; Inu was gone, out to look for his wayward kohai.
Minutes after Usagi and Tora left
Nezumi, no, he was Naruto now – he was awake – was face to face with two S-class Jinchuuriki. They had taken countless lives; Konoha-nin included, and had years to tame the beasts within. Naruto was eight, and the only time he had interacted with his charge they didn't even speak.
Unfortunately for them, that was enough.
****Flashback****
×××
When the old pervert finally made it to Konoha, Naruto was put to work right away, and not just in Senjutsu.
Jiraiya-sensei had been adamant that Naruto try and establish a link between him and the Kyuubi. Naruto didn't mind so much as he just didn't know how.
"Just relax," the Toad Sage told him, "calm yourself and visualize what you want."
Naruto sighed, what exactly was it that he wanted? Jiraiya had said that he was Konoha's Jinchuuriki, and even though he didn't like it personally, his fellow Sennin told him that he needed to learn how to harness the Bijuu's power. Of course Naruto wanted to protect Konoha, but he felt guilty just taking what was not his. Didn't he kill a Kumo-nin for that?
So what did he want?
Deciding to just wing it and come up with an answer later, Naruto dived into his own mind. It was a wet, dark, and broken place. So nothing unusual. A long corridor, what looked like an underground sewer of sorts, stretched out from both behind and in front of him. Water dripped from the ceiling and the walls were cracked. Did he mention that he was knee high in something he hoped was water, because he was? He chose to walk forward – might as well – and he began to regret his choice. It felt like hours had passed since he arrived and everything seemed to be the same, never changing, dingy hallways.
That's when he came upon the large room that doubled as a cell on the far side, a very, very large cell. The metal bars, adorning a large tag the read 'seal' reached into the darkness that was above them, lost in the expanse that was his mind.
For a long drawn out moment, everything was still. He began to think nothing was beyond those figurative bars, until a single, red-slitted eye peered through the darkness, capturing the small boy in its gaze.
Before, when Naruto tried to feel the mass in his gut, he only ever felt hatred or malice, and at times, loneliness.
Now, standing so close to the famed monster, he seemed almost…calm. Naruto smiled. Was his soothing natural energy relaxing the all-powerful Bijuu?
Whatever the case may be, Naruto was certain that the Kyuubi could feel him as well, like he too had the ability to read emotions. Naruto never felt so close to another in all his life. They were the same, in more ways than one.
They were both scorned by the world. They were both the definition of strong. They were both forced upon each other. They were both too different than what people were comfortable with. And by far the most important and startling similarity was that they were both…
…monsters.
Standing proud and tall, not against the misunderstood Bijuu, but beside him, was thrilling. There was no need for words. Everything was being said through their eyes.
I'm sorry for what's happened to you.
I know.
I'm going to save you.
I know.
I'll need your help.
The visage that was the Kyuubi morphed into the terrifyingly wicked grin that stalked the nightmares of so many.
I know.
×××
****End Flashback****
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