Restless

This chapter has been edited. That being said, it may still need editing done to it. If you see any mistakes e-mail, leave a review, or personal message me about it. :-)

After editing this chapter, I realize that this chapter is slightly dry, though the information is necessary, and will play a part in Chapter 11: Restless Eyes, and even later on in Identity Crisis. That being said, there’s a bit of smut at the end of it to look forward to! :-)


Restless

Chapter 4: Restless Fighters

As Naruto lay on the slightly damp grass, he took the time to stare up at the stars. It was a week before he was scheduled to take the final match of the Chuunin exams. He had opted at staying the entire night in the area where he and Jiraiya would train (or rather, Naruto would train, and Jiraiya would engage in his peeping Tom activities) in order to make sure he was working as hard as he possibly could. To Naruto, working as much as possible meant sleeping at his training grounds by the river so that he didn’t even waste time traveling. The light breeze that blew the sweat off of his face felt incredibly good after all the practicing he had done.

Despite his body’s exhausted yet surprisingly relaxed state, Naruto's mind was a whirl as he allowed so many thoughts to float through his mind. Foremost, he thought about Sasuke, and the fact that the two of them had started this new dominance challenge thing. He lay on the grass, content to just wonder if Sasuke had given their challenge as much thought as he had. Closing his eyes, Naruto let his mind wander from this thought to yet another one.

No, he wasn't trying to sleep as he lay underneath the stars. His body was just way too sore to practice. Jiraiya had gone off on a yelling rampage at him when Naruto had failed the summoning jutsu again. Jiraiya had forced Naruto to run up and down the mountain with weights on his legs and carrying heavy water buckets in his hands the entire day. Jiraiya said if that didn't work, then tomorrow he would think of something else to try and get him to "realize" his chakra potential. He needed to stop producing that "tadpole." Naruto had never learned that word before. Or at least, not in the language that everyone else knew. Naruto knew it as kç dŏu.

Naruto had long ago come to realize that part of his biggest problem during training was trying to understand what people were saying. After all, the language that everyone in Konoha spoke was his second language, and he had had to teach it to himself, so it was only natural that he sometimes had trouble.

Since he had no parents, and the orphanage hadn't wanted him, he'd been given to the monks of the shinobi temple. Naruto never knew if it was because they had originally thought that he would end up staying at the temple, or because they honestly hated him (he had always expected the later), no one had ever thought to teach him anything other than Chinese, the language that the monks used. Thus, Naruto’s first language was the language of the monks. He had done all of his studying in their language. He had even been able to read and write it at a young age.

He'd been a very studious child then since that was all that he had been allowed to do. The monks had kept him confined to the northeastern sector of the temple and its grounds. He was never allowed to go outside and play like a normal child. He was disciplined. He'd been the most obedient child he could be. His room had always been immaculately tidy. He'd always made sure to keep himself clean. Still, for whatever reason his young brain could not seem to comprehend, they all seemed to dislike him. No one had noticed just how incredibly bright he had been as a child. Not that it made a difference now because he had long since learned that he much preferred on hands learning than studying, but still, if someone had paid his studies any mind then, it may have made a difference in the long run. It wasn't even that all of the monks had hated him; it was just that no one had liked him.

Naruto was the only child at the temple. The monks had had to feed him and watch him as a baby, and they made it clear that he was a burden to the temple. He had done his best to behave in order to try and get someone, anyone, to just like him. But none of them had. He had been overlooked as though he didn't exist. Naruto had been left to himself for the most part, only socializing when someone asked him to do chores. For the most part, he kept to himself in his room, sometimes days at a time. Being cooped up for days on end hadn't bothered him either. How could it bother you if you didn't know there was something better? He spent his days studying or doing some simple training for his young body in his small room.

Of course, having studied, Naruto knew that there was more besides what he knew inside the Temple’s walls, but everything else seemed so far away to his young mind. He had never seen beyond the walls, and to a young child, that meant that it would not be real for him until he had.

The day that Naruto found out about the grounds outside the Temple was ironically the worst and best day of his life. It was the best day of his life because he had found out that there was so much more he could be doing, but it was the worst day because he hadn't known about those other things. The crashing reality of how much he had been missing out on overwhelmed his youthful comprehension.

It was almost like walking into another realm. It would take him years to literally understand the people of Konoha and their strange tongue, and he had never fully caught up to certain habits and customs, having never had anyone to properly teach him or guide him.

Naruto’s interesting day had started out when Sandaime Hokage had come to check up on Naruto on his sixth birthday. Naruto, as always, had been cooped up in his room at the Temple. Sandaime had come into his tiny room to see him. Naruto had seen this man before, but didn't know who he was. So when Sandaime said "hello" Naruto would have been more than willing to give a kind response back - if he had understood what Sandaime had said. Another man quickly followed Sandaime into Naruto's room, the head Monk, Matachima, and hurriedly said something to Sandaime in that funny sounding language.

"Hello," Sandaime said again, this time in the same language that Naruto understood.

From that moment, the next several days were a blur of changes. Sandaime had come to let Naruto into the shinobi academy. Naruto would have to start some studying on his own to learn that funny sounding language, but he felt that he could manage. He had been instructed to pack all of his things and to come to stay at a little apartment for a time. Naruto, having been raised by monks, was perfectly capable of living on his own, at least, according to head monk Matachima. Sandaime had given the man a doubtful look, but it was clear that the Temple didn't want him, and it was clear that this new opportunity for Naruto was something that Naruto truly wanted.

Sandaime sighed. When he had gone to the Temple, he had originally planned on Naruto still staying at the Temple while he trained, but clearly the Temple would not allow him to stay if he were training at the academy. They felt it too dangerous for the rest of the shinobi if the demon were to accidentally slip up while trying to practice becoming a ninja. Sandaime had deadpanned that the shinobi Temple would be the best place for him because of the amount of shinobi present, and if they couldn't handle a child, then what were they doing as shinobi in the first place?

Monk Matachima had the dignity to stutter an apology and try to insist that he was only joking and that of course Naruto could stay at the Temple, but Sandaime would have none of it. It had clearly been a bad choice for him to let Naruto grow up with the monks. The boy seemed so uncultured already that it might be better for him in the long run to learn from experiences, rather than remaining cooped up in the Temple. So, Sandaime took Naruto's hand, Naruto grabbed his pathetic little backpack, and the two of them headed down the mountain to Konoha village.

It was the first time that Naruto could remember being outside of the Temple. Sandaime showed him around town, and Sandaime had then treated him to lunch at a place called Ichiraku. He had the most wonderful lunch in the entire world: ramen. He was so excited to have something with a flavor, something so different than overcooked, dry vegetables, that he instantly liked it. Sandaime had chuckled at Naruto's enthusiasm, but had then had to excuse himself to use the bathroom. Naruto was sort of sad to see the old man go, even for just a moment, because Naruto had no idea how to speak that funny language. However, Naruto was quickly side-tracked when the friendly (which was the reason that Sandaime had picked that place to eat at) owner placed another bowl of ramen in front of him, that he was so absorbed in the new flavor at the booth that he didn't notice the strange glances that he was getting. Of course, he also did not understand the language of the strange whispers from behind his back.

"Is that - is that him?"

"I think it is! Without a monk escort no less!"

"Why did they let that thing out?"

"Goodness knows it looks wild. Look at the shabby state of clothes that thing has on. Probably needs a bath!"

Although Naruto had been oblivious, Sandaime Hokage had not been. And though he may have been older, Sandaime’s hearing was not at all bad. It was quite a frightening thing to get on the wrong side of a Hokage. It was even more terrifying to get on the wrong side of a Hokage while he was trying to finish peeing.

"Ladies. I think you should get going," Sandaime said sharply, coming out of the backroom from where the bathrooms were located. Perhaps the fact that Sandaime was right in front of them so suddenly, or perhaps he was emerging looking so pissed after, well, pissing, but whatever it was, the expression on their faces was so startled and so comical looking, that Naruto, who didn't know what was being said, couldn't help but burst out laughing. It was this notorious incident that later would mark Naruto as rude and a little demon. The women had been shamed, and they said that Naruto shouldn't laugh at anyone in a situation like that. The women had gossiped terrible things about Naruto all around town, but Naruto hadn't known that Sandaime was yelling at them, so how could he have been rude? Besides, when the two women retold the story all over town, they conveniently left out the part about the Hokage even being there, just mentioning that they had met that demon brat and how rude he was.

Of course, Naruto didn't find out any of this until much later.

It had taken the extremely intelligent six year old a long time to get accustomed to the new life after Sandaime had left him at his new apartment. In the beginning, he had done everything that Sandaime had told him to do. Naruto spent hours upon hours learning that funny sounding language. He had trouble teaching himself how to write it. It was so similar to Chinese, but even though many of the picture words were familiar, not only did they have a different meaning, none of them sounded like anything he was used to.

After getting settled in his little apartment, Naruto had found it very hard to stay by himself. First of all, he was scared. He was alone, and he had no idea how to talk to anyone except for the few phrases that Sandaime had made sure he knew. Second of all, whenever he went out, no one wanted him around. They were always so mean to him, and said strange words to him. Words that he could only repeat and run home and try to figure out what they meant.

Every word those people said to him turned out to be mean words, but he didn't know what to say back. He also didn't understand what the people were saying at the new school that he was studying at. He tried his very best to mimic what everyone else was doing, but he knew he frequently missed something in the instructions. He tried so hard, yet couldn't keep up. Everyone laughed at him, and he knew that it wasn't a nice laugh. Naruto was utterly miserable. He did his best to get people to like him. He also did his best to try and get people to let him sit with them so that he could try and learn their funny language, but they always said one of the first phrases that he had learned: "Go away."

Two months passed like this. Little Naruto didn't know what to do. Finally, he was tired of not being able to learn the silly language, so he finally went to a place where they didn't kick him out: the local bars. The men were usually too drunk to notice him, and no one really cared anyway. He was good at not being noticed - he was used to it from being at the Temple for so long. It was by watching these men (and sometimes women) that he was able to learn some of the language. Of course, the type of language he learned was not the kind of language that he was supposed to be using.

When he had gone to Ichiraku and said, very brightly, having picked up this phrase at the bar last night, "Give me some God damn food you dirty crook!" to the old man behind the counter, it was then that someone first realized that Naruto was having some problems with the language. Thankfully, ramen storeowner was smart enough to realize that the kid clearly didn't know what he was saying. Still, the comment was not appreciated. With one eye twitching, the old man Teuchi replied, "if you say that to me again, you will never be allowed to eat here anymore." After apologizing, Naruto was finally able to get some help from the old man since Teuchi realized Naruto needed some help. Teuchi did his best in teaching Naruto. He wasn't a particularly good teacher when it came to writing the language himself, but he made sure Naruto learned the basics.

Finally having some sort of knowledge, Naruto finally felt better. Once he felt that he had mastered the blasted language to the degree that he need, his whole persona changed. He had so many different freedoms now that he had never dreamt of having before that he developed a rebellious spirit. He wanted to be able to run around freely. So he did. He wanted to be able to go to bed at all hours of the night. So he did. He wanted to do things he knew he wasn't supposed to do. He wanted to be noticed - which he was, but not in a good way. At first, he thought that he could salvage his reputation at school by trying to be one of the smarter kids, but he was still too far behind from everyone else, that he just had trouble keeping up. He learned the new things, but without having a grasp at the basics, many of the jutsu and other, more complicated tactics, went right over his head. So, he gave up on trying to be smart, and sat quietly in the back of the class.

Still not being quite fluent in the language, Naruto was tired of being yelled at for no reason. He quickly became tired of being quiet and unnoticed, except when someone felt like picking on him. Since he was already getting yelled at, why not get yelled at for something he did?

He remembered the first night that he ventured out with the idea of creating some mischief. It had been the first time he saw Sasuke outside of class. He assumed that Sasuke had never seen him, but Naruto clearly remembered the look that he had seen on Sasuke's face that night. He was sad and lonely.

Naruto knew that Sasuke was part of a well-known family. He knew that because the first time he had learned about Uchiha Sasuke, it had been because one of the girls in his class had been so excited about talking to him because he had asked about Sasuke. It had been Sakura. The first person who had talked to him was Sakura. That was the reason that he decided that she would be the only girl he could go after since she had been the first to talk to him (even if it was all about Sasuke). Anyway - back to Sasuke.

Naruto had originally decided that he was going to paint those walls outside the Uchiha section a bright orange color, but felt that he couldn't do it with Sasuke looking so sad as he sat with his black-haired head in between his knees, his back pressed against the outside of the complex’s walls. Besides, Naruto would have to get Sasuke to move from off the wall that he was leaning on in order to paint it.

Naruto was going to go and talk to Sasuke when a man, who was clearly Sasuke's father, came out and told him coldly to come in. Naruto felt bad for him. It was clear that Sasuke wanted to please his father because he scrambled to his feet as fast as possible and did his best to look presentable. His father paid him no mind.

'He's like me,' Naruto mused to himself, 'he wants his Dad to pay attention to him, just like I want others to notice me.' Naruto was able to see that easily. He decided not to paint the walls orange. Though he did have to pee, so he decided taking a piss on the wall was a good way of saying he didn't like Sasuke's Dad too much.

Another three months went by, and finally - finally! - Naruto found himself able to speak fluently. Even with old man Teuchi’s help, he still spent hours late at night in the bars, and even later hours doing his best to study the scrolls in the dim light by the moon in his small apartment. Eventually, Naruto noticed a new problem at school. Everything started to look fuzzy. Not overly bad, but definitely not perfect either. Of course, Naruto just brushed it aside. With no medical exams, he himself nor anyone else ever realized that Naruto had done serious damage to his eyes by studying so closely those funny characters, studying in dim light, and staying late in the bars hidden.

The interesting thing about how the Kyuubi healed was that the demon could only heal what was vitally necessary for its host in order for it to stay healthy. Since the eyes were not directly related to a health problem, his eyes stayed damaged. If anyone had noticed, they would be easily fixable with the right jutsu. They weren't like Kabuto's eyes where the nerves had been severely damaged, but without anyone noticing Naruto, and therefore his physical health, there was nothing Naruto could do about it.

So, as Naruto stared up into the night sky with his blurred vision at the training grounds, not knowing that his vision was blurred, not knowing that it affected him as a ninja, Naruto thought about Sasuke. He thought about that first time he realized that Sasuke was alone. His thoughts then traveled to the time that he found out that Sasuke's entire family had been killed a year or so after he had first seen Sasuke sitting alone outside the Uchiha walls by himself.

Sighing, Naruto’s thoughts once again changed to wanting to tell Sasuke thank you. He knew that Sasuke was lonely too, and he assumed that Sasuke had realized that Naruto was lonely as well, and that's why they had decided to do what they were doing - whatever it was. Battling over who was strongest or whatever they had agreed to. Naruto smiled. He finally had found someone similar to him.

"Okay! I will beat him and show everyone that I am strong, and then there will be lots of people who want to be my friend!" Naruto said out loud to himself, finally finding the strength within his arms to stretch out his fist and clench it back to himself. He hopped back up and began practicing the kuchiyose no jutsu - the summoning technique. Naruto practiced for two more hours before once again falling exhausted to the ground.

The next thing Naruto recalled was waking the next morning as a thing of water was dumped unkindly on his head.

"Really kid! You need to start practicing!" Jiraiya said cheerfully, finding great amusement in waking Naruto up as unceremoniously as possible.

"Unnnnnnnn. Sleeeeeeeeeeeep," Naruto spluttered and groaned tiredly as he wiped the water from his face.

"Up!" Jiraiya bellowed pounding Naruto hardly on his head.

"ITAI!" Naruto yelled in pain. "What was that for?!" Naruto asked, fully awake, drenched, and annoyed.

"Disobeying your sensei," Jiraiya said with a "hmph" added on at the end. Naruto sighed grumpily and did what Jiraiya said and got up.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

The next evening, as Kakashi and Sasuke sat down for a late lunch, Kakashi looked up to see a bird cawing. He waited, listening carefully to the crow’s cries, and then sighed.

"Naruto's in the hospital," Kakashi murmured, unconcernedly to himself, but Sasuke heard him nonetheless.

"What? What do you mean in the hospital?" Sasuke asked, suddenly worried, despite trying his best to act as if this news meant nothing to him.

"His trainer went a little haywire," Kakashi explained.

"Ebisu-san? He doesn't seem like the type," Sasuke said, bemusedly.

"Iie. Not him. Someone else wanted to train Naruto specially," Kakashi said, his smile hidden behind his mask, but Sasuke still noticed the slight crease in his eyes that let Sasuke know he was smiling.

"What do you mean 'specially?'" Sasuke asked, obviously annoyed now. Kakashi knew that Sasuke didn't like thinking of Naruto as being above him.

"Ah nothing, but it appears that he was pushed too hard by who was training him. I'm actually a little surprised. I would have assumed that he would have been sent to the hospital sooner," Kakashi watched as Sasuke smirked to himself. Clearly Sasuke presumed that Kakashi thought this because he didn't believe Naruto capable, but then Kakashi added, making sure to emphasis the name in order to wipe the smirk off of Sasuke's face "After all, Yondaime himself was hospitalized much sooner when the same teacher decided to train him for the Chuunin exams as well," Kakashi’s smile grew wider as he saw Sasuke's usually expressionless face grow to one of utter determination.

"Then why aren't we training now? I need to train harder!" Sasuke demanded. Again Kakashi smirked.

"As you wish."

Still, it was obvious to Kakashi that Sasuke was distracted throughout the entire training the rest of the evening. Kakashi finished Sasuke’s training at normal time, but told Sasuke that he should take the following morning off because he had some business to take care of. Sasuke looked annoyed, but nodded nonetheless. In reality, Kakashi really had nothing to do, but he knew that Sasuke was ever so slightly curious, and perhaps even slightly worried, about what had happened to Naruto to put him in the hospital.

“I’m going to head back to my house. You can stay here if you wish,” Kakashi said as the stars winked down at him, almost sharing his joke. As Kakashi disappeared, Sasuke debated on whether or not to go back to Konoha too. He would either stay here and train by himself, or go back and see what had happened to the dobe. Reasoning with himself that if he were to try and push his endurance, he could run all the way to Konoha and back. Yes, that was the reason that Sasuke used in his mind, though he knew there was another reason altogether that he was heading back.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto looked rather unlike himself in the hospital room, Sasuke mused. Sasuke crouched at the window, slightly breathless. It was close to 2AM in the morning, and he had made excellent time running from his training grounds to Konoha hospital. Naruto was clearly incoherent, but Sasuke couldn’t help walking over to him to touch his face, tracing the lines where he had scars on each side of his cheeks.

“Oi, Naruto. Wake up,” Sasuke said, loudly. He wanted to make fun of Naruto for being put in the hospital, and taunt him a little before going back to training. Naruto didn’t move.

“Naruto, wake up!” Sasuke demanded, this time, roughly shoving Naruto. Still, the blond didn’t move. Sasuke was beginning to get seriously worried. He didn’t understand it. He knew that Naruto was a fast healer, so why didn’t he get up already? Had the training drained him this bad? Sasuke walked to the front of the bed to see if Naruto’s chart was hanging on the edge of it, but there was nothing. Then he remembered that when he had been in the hospital – not too long ago – his chart had been outside the door. Making sure that no one was around, Sasuke opened the door and grabbed the chart. He quickly scanned in, reading what it said:

Extreme chakra use. Internal damage to organs. Expected recovery date: 12-14 days.

What the heck? Naruto wouldn’t be able to participate in the final exams! The exams were only a few days away. Still, it explained why Naruto wasn’t moving. Sasuke felt guilty at trying to wake him up. He put the chart back into the holder and headed back into the room.

Sasuke sat on the bed looking at Naruto, mad at him. “Stupid dobe. I thought for sure that I was going to get to fight you. Hurry up and heal fast, okay?” He sat on the bed for a full two minutes before realizing that he was losing valuable training time. He got up and began to leave, when-

“Sasuke…” the murmur came from behind him. He whirled around to find Naruto standing at the side of his bed. “Sasuke…” Naruto said again, but this time, with the way he said it, and the look in his eyes, Naruto was still not awake.

“The idiot’s sleep walking,” Sasuke groaned to himself.

“I will win against Sasuke,” Naruto said, his semi-conscious self still as determined as ever. “I will be dominant, not Sasuke-bastard,” Naruto said. Sasuke couldn’t help it. Even if he was sleep walking, Sasuke couldn’t let Naruto get away with such a comment.

“Oi, dobe—” but before Sasuke could finish the insult, the sleepwalking Naruto had grabbed Sasuke and had pinned him down to the bed.

“I’m better than Sasuke,” Naruto said firmly, his lips crushing Sasuke’s beneath his own. Sasuke couldn’t help but moan at the pleasurable feeling. He knew that in Naruto’s current health condition, and Naruto’s sleepwalking state, he really shouldn’t be doing this, but the reassuring death grip that Naruto had on his arms made Sasuke realize that Naruto himself wasn’t as deathly weak as those dumb charts made him out to be. Sasuke pushed Naruto back, but Naruto wouldn’t budge. It made Sasuke’s groin harden to feel how strongly Naruto was holding him as he struggled against Naruto’s body. Sasuke wasn’t using his full strength, he really didn’t want to hurt Naruto to prevent him from being in the tournament after all, but he could tell that Naruto had grown in his training. It was an exciting thing for Sasuke. If he could dominate Naruto, it would be all that more pleasing because he would beat a more worthy opponent. Naruto’s hand found its way inside the hem of Sasuke’s shorts and boxers, and began to harshly jerk Sasuke off. Sasuke’s struggling against Naruto ceased as he felt the pleasure fill him, letting Naruto have his unconscious way with him.

“What’s that noise coming from patient Uzumaki’s room?” Sasuke’s blood froze as he heard the muffled voice of one of the nurses.

The door swung open, but the only thing the nurse found was Uzumaki lying with his eyes wide open with a sort of dazed look on them. She shrugged her shoulders and left.

As Sasuke hurried as fast as possible from the direction of the hospital back to the training grounds, he smiled. He couldn’t wait until he got to fight with Naruto. On the battlefield – and off it as well.


Next Chapter: Restless Winner

Umm…::puts fingers together like Hinata:: I like reviews. ;-)