003. naruto: hunger

.

Naruto doesn't understand much about the village politics, or how the shinobi actually work, or what it means to be part of a noble clan, but he

does

understand people. People are easy after you've lived among them for a while, and Naruto has. He might not look like he pays attention, but he sees a lot. He must if he wants to survive by himself.

Sasuke's clan lives in a section of the village that looks different from the rest. Naruto has never been here before. The orphanage is on the other end of town, and he has never had cause to go this far towards the edge of the forest surrounding Konoha. Besides, if he had tried to come here by himself, he would have just gotten kicked out. He knows how this works; he 's never welcome into the nicer places.

They have to cross a wide red bridge over a sparkling river that separates the Uchiha compound from the rest of Konoha. There are sentries at the mouth of the road and a wooden fence stretching around the perimeter, going as far as the eye can see, disappearing in the distance as the river bends. Naruto tips his head back to look up at the tall red gate sporting what must be the Uchiha symbol and some words which are too old and too small to read.

"Na, Sasuke, what's that say?"

Sasuke looks up as they pass underneath the gate. "Oh, the letters on the torii? I don't know, actually. I'd have to ask Oboro-obaa-sama. She's the priestess at the shrine."

"What's a torii?" Naruto asks.

"It's what we call our gate. They say it's like an entrance to a different realm, like we're leaving the outside world and going into a more sacred place. It's very old. Oboro-obaa-sama says it's been standing there since the founding of Konoha."

"

Cool

," Naruto croons, "so like you guys live in a special place!"

Sasuke puffs up a little bit, smiling. "The clan compound is built on sacred ground. We were one of the founders of Konoha, after all. '

But Naruto can tell that the people who live here aren 't happy. There is discontent in the way they move, resentment in the slope of their shoulders. Hatred in the depths of their eyes, for once not directed at Naruto himself, but at something else, something beyond what Naruto can see. Perhaps directed at something that can 't be seen.

He doesn 't ask. Sasuke probably doesn 't know. Or Sasuke knows, but doesn 't realize it, and as selfish as it seems, Naruto doesn 't want to upset his friend. Sasuke is his first friend, after all.

Can he call Sasuke a friend now? Is that okay?

Sasuke 's family 's house is off the main road and near the river, probably close enough to see the water from the second floor or the roof. It 's old and traditional but nice, clean, quiet inside. Everything unlike where Naruto lives, his little rented room with the creaky door and thin walls and loud civilian neighbors, but not the nice kind of civilians like Haruno Sakura 's family. All of a sudden, Naruto feels self-conscious, gingerly shucking his sandals off at the door and checking if his feet are passably clean, at least enough to not leave marks on the polished wooden floors.

'There 's no one home so we can probably eat in the kitchen, ' Sasuke is saying, 'what do you like for dinner? I can make lotsa different stuff. I think we still have chicken. We can make karaage! '

Sasuke sounds proud of himself; Naruto can 't help but be proud of him too.

'Ok, ok, you tell me what to do! ' Naruto follows his new friend past the spotless sitting room and the cold dining room, past the dark hallway and into the quiet kitchen. Sasuke flicks the light on, drops his pack on the floor, puts the dirty bento boxes into the sink. Water starts flowing to loosen the sticky pieces of rice from the containers. Naruto crouches next to Sasuke as they stick their heads into the fridge.

'Hmm, chicken and salad and rice? '

It 's more than Naruto would have made for himself. He 's never seen so much food inside a fridge! 'Sounds great! '

Sasuke takes the chicken out and puts it in the microwave to thaw; Naruto helps with washing the vegetables, fresh and green like the best produce he sees at the market everyday but can never buy. They would never sell this to him. The meat, too, is high-quality; Naruto can 't remember the last time he had chicken. (Iruka-sensei always bought him ramen with pork, after all.)

'Won 't your parents mind that I 'm eating here too? ' Naruto asks quietly. 'I mean, I mean, I don 't wanna get you in trouble. '

'Um, they don 't really, um, mind, ' Sasuke shrugs, jostling Naruto at the sink. He washes his hands, paler and with longer fingers than Naruto 's own, but obviously knowledgeable around this kitchen. 'They 're gone a lot. I kinda cook for myself for the most part. Also I do the shopping. Well, I get help from the oba-san at the market, but I go by myself. '

What Naruto hears is that Sasuke 's parents don 't mind

him

. Otherwise, there would be a mom in this kitchen, getting dinner ready for Sasuke before he even comes home. Just like Shikamaru 's mom, who might have probably been a ninja before but sounds like she quit being one, or Chouji 's mom, who always has a great big hug and a great big dinner for Chouji to brag about the next day at school. His bragging always made Naruto so hungry; just the thought of so much food makes Naruto dizzy!

'Should we make that much? ' Naruto asks, watching Sasuke prepare the panko for breading the chicken. Not that he minds the food, but that 's a lot.

'We 're also making some for our bento tomorrow, silly, ' Sasuke snorts, making Naruto beat the eggs with the chopsticks while he pats the thawed chicken dry. 'Sensei said to bring food 'cause we 're gonna be out all day. I don 't plan on being hungry. '

'Obviously, ' Naruto says flatly, looking down at the food they 're preparing.

'Na, what 's your favorite food? '

'Ramen! '

'Eh? Why? '

'Whaddya mean, why? Ramen 's great! You can put all sorts of things in it and it makes you all warm and it 's delicious! ' When Sasuke remains unconvinced, Naruto scowls at him. 'Why, what 's

your

favorite food? '

'Nnnn, tomato, ' Sasuke says, dropping a piece of chicken into the beaten eggs. 'Dango. Senbei. Tea. '

'You 're like an old man. '

'Shut up, dobe. '

'Teme, who ya callin ' dobe! '

'Who else is here? '

Naruto jabs a chopstick at him, which Sasuke dodges with a snicker. A string of egg goop lands on Sasuke 's hair; Sasuke flicks panko at his face instead. They try to get each other back the entire time they fry the chicken and cook the rice and mix the salad; it 's easily the best night in Naruto 's short life, and when they finally sit down together with more food at the table than Naruto 's ever seen, it 's also the best dinner he 's ever had 'and he hasn 't even tasted the food.

He learns that Sasuke really does love tomatoes (three of them quickly disappear from the table within less than fifteen minutes) and that he can use chopsticks with both hands.

'Ambidextrous, ' Sasuke teaches him the term and how to write the kanji for it, 'because it 's good for handling weapons, aniki said. I taught myself. '

Naruto is left-handed only because that 's just how he learned, but maybe he can teach himself too.

'Na, what kinda ninja is your aniki? '

'The best! He 's a jonin, ' Sasuke proudly responds, 'which is the top rank and it means he does lots of top-level missions. He 's really strong! All of them are jonin, actually, hahaue and chichiue and aniki. '

'I thought you said your mom was a to-toku '"

'Tokujo! It means

special

jonin. She has, uh 'she does special missions that needs her expertise. '

'Wow, how long do you think we gotta train before we get as strong as them? '

Sasuke gets this look on his face, all scrunched-up and constipated. Naruto doesn 't like it; it reeks of doubt and disappointment.

'We 're nowhere near that kind of thing, dobe, we 've got lots of work to do. '

'Well, we 'll get there one day, 'ttebayo! I mean, you 're already plenty good! That thing you did earlier with sensei, the fire thing,

that was badass!

'

A flush blooms across Sasuke 's cheeks, making him look younger than he is. 'You think so? Well, I did work hard on that. It 's like 'it 's a technique the Uchihas are supposed to be really good at. We 're naturally good at Katon 'fire techniques, boke 'and it 's something we 're supposed to be able to do, otherwise we 're not really 'we 're not considered Uchiha ninjas if we can 't. '

Sasuke trails off towards the end, returning to his bowl of rice and shoving a whole chicken piece into his mouth. Naruto thinks that the fire thing from earlier was pretty cool and all, but maybe it wasn 't good enough for Sasuke 's clan.

'That 's cool, ' Naruto decides to say, 'that you have techniques your family passes down. I wish I had something like that! '

'Don 't you? ' Sasuke asks, and then catches himself with wide eyes, 'I-I mean, I know you live at the o-orphanage and stuff, but your parents must have been ninja. Surely, I mean, at the Archives, they should have something about 'about them? '

Naruto ' Naruto never thought about that. Nobody has ever '

'Oh, ' is all he can say, 'I 've never looked before. '

'Well, uh, one of these days you should, ' Sasuke nods, looking down at his rice bowl again. 'Maybe you 'll find something good. I 'm sure they were ninja. You 're too strong for them not to be. '

'You think I 'm strong? '

'I mean, you have to be, ' Sasuke shrugs, 'to live all alone. '

Sasuke understands

, Naruto realizes all at once, looking across this table, around this quiet house, along this quiet street, inside this perfect compound. Sasuke has a family which is a part of this huge clan inside this massive village, but he 's all alone. And somehow that 's worse, Naruto thinks, than

actually

being alone, because he knows it would hurt worse if his own family ignored him. That 's what 's happening inside this house. Sasuke 's own family ignores him, because he 's

just

Sasuke.

Naruto has never met this aniki, but it doesn 't matter what sort of amazing super ninja he is; that doesn 't make Sasuke any less strong. Naruto has eyes; Naruto

saw

Sasuke fight. Sasuke is strong too.

It doesn 't matter

, Naruto tells himself.

We 'll just have to show them.

He helps wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen and pack the bento boxes. There are two sets now sitting in the fridge; 'I 'll bring yours tomorrow, so you don 't have to carry it all the way home, ' Sasuke assures him, 'and if we 're nice, maybe Shikamaru will share his lunch with us. '

'Haha, we can always bully him into it! '

'We shouldn 't bully him, he 's our teammate. We should be

nice

. '

'

Should

, ' Naruto points out, 'doesn 't mean

will

. '

'If and when Shikamaru turns his brain towards making your life hell, I 'm not helping you. '

'I thought we were teammates! '

But Sasuke only shoves at his shoulder, making Naruto stumble on his way out of the door. Suddenly, the best day of Naruto 's life is almost over; it 's time to go home.

'Jaa, mata ashita, ' Sasuke bids, quieter all of a sudden. Naruto looks back at his new friend and can somehow tell that neither of them quite believe how much has happened in one day.

Naruto grins, cheeks hurting with the weight of his newfound joy. 'Ashita! Ja ne, Sasuke! ' Turning to leave is harder than it ought to be, but he sprints away from the house, through the empty main street, past the torii and the bridge, across to the other side of the village.

It 's okay

, he tells himself,

we have tomorrow.

tbc

first draft: 2018.05.11

last edited: 2021.12.16