Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Road to Recovery ❯ Chapter 12

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

It was the strong scent of meat cooking in the kitchen that woke Naruto up that morning. Groaning, he shifted to his side and tried to ignore the inviting scent of breakfast. He was still exhausted from the drama that ensued the day before, and didn’t really feel like eating.

He was about to drift off to sleep again when his stomach began to growl.

Shut up, I wanna sleep…

The longer he ignored his protesting stomach, the more he became annoyed.

“Fine, have it your way…” He muttered, quickly moving to a sitting position.

After stretching out his stiff joints, he left his bedroom and headed towards the kitchen.

“Did you sleep in your clothes from yesterday?” Sakura asked, observing him with a critical eye. “You need to start taking better care of yourself.”

“Good morning to you too, Sakura-chan.”While she was busy cooking, Sai, Kakashi, and Iruka were lounging in the living room. Naruto spotted the three sitting on a couch chatting to one another in low whispers, and decided to approach them.

“Iruka-sensei! I didn’t see you here last night.”

“Hey Naruto,” Iruka greeted back with a warm smile. “I wanted to stop by and see how you were doing.”“I’m doing fine, thanks for asking. Being Hokage is a lot tougher than I expected it to be.” The blonde admitted, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon enough. It shouldn’t be too stressful, since the conflict with Kumo is over with.”

“I’ll see you all around some time later, then. See ya.”“Take it easy!”

“Bye!”Naruto entered the kitchen once again to eat a light breakfast with Sakura. Afterwards, he grabbed a clean outfit from his room and brought it with him to the bathroom.

His nose wrinkled as he stripped off his clothes. No wonder Sakura seemed so angry earlier that morning! He hadn’t noticed until now how dirty he was. A sticky layer of grime covered nearly every inch of his body, and his clothes reeked of sweat.

I need to do the laundry as soon as I’m out of the shower.

Naruto stepped into the bath tub and turned the knob slightly to the left. He gave a sigh of relief as the hot water ran down his sore body. Although he was careful washing his abdomen, he could already tell that his wound was almost completely healed.

Jeez, being Hokage really isn’t as cool as I thought it was going to be, Naruto thought with a disappointed sigh. I’ve had to deal with the Raikage, the reconstruction of my village, and the death of Tsunade. What else can go wrong?

Don’t you even dare to think of giving up! A voice replied angrily. Tsunade trusted you enough to give you the title of Hokage, and the entire village depends on you!
Yeah, I know. I wish life would just cut me a little slack here and there…

After he was done with his shower, he dried off and put his clothes on. He exited the bathroom with a towel around his neck.

“Naruto,” Kakashi stepped towards him with a solemn gaze. “There’s a small group of villagers gathered outside of the building. Sai is keeping them from entering, but you must speak with them soon.”

“Thanks, Kakashi.”

Leaving the towel on a nearby table, he slipped on his sandals and left the apartment.

What can be so urgent that they need to form a mob this early in the morning?

The angry chatter of the crowd intensified once they saw Naruto emerging from the apartment building. He spotted Sai near the edge of the crowd, obviously trying to distract them.

“Please form a single orderly line and tell me your problems one at a time!” The blonde nin yelled with his hands cupped around his mouth.

Although most of the complaints had to do with the reconstruction of the village, a few people asked Naruto what he was going to do about Sasuke.

Sasuke!

Once he finished speaking with all of the villagers, he searched for Kakashi.

“Hey, Kakashi! Can you do a favor for me?”“Yes, what is it?”“I want to move Sasuke into our apartment. Could you take my place for a few hours and help with the reconstruction?”“Sure, but I would be quick if I were you. I’ll direct the villagers away from our apartment building to the best of my abilities.”“Thanks, Kakashi. I really appreciate you doing this.”

Naruto left with a small wave and ran swiftly towards the forest. A mixture of anticipation and anxiety tingled down his spine as he thought about Sasuke moving in.

Would he be able to convince Sasuke to live with him? Would he be willing to become a law-abiding citizen of Konoha once more?

“Hey dobe,” Sasuke greeted with a smirk. “I had the impression that you were beginning to warm up to me, yet you left me here in this prison. Did you change your mind already?”“Ah, about that…” Naruto hesitated, blushing. “W-would you like to move into an apartment with Sai, Kakashi, Sakura, and I?”“Sure.”Naruto blinked a few times and tried to mentally re-asses Sasuke’s answer. Was it just his imagination, or did Sasuke just agree to live with him?

“Why’d you agree to this so quickly?” The blonde asked, crossing his arms with a suspicious glare.

“I told you this before, dobe,” The raven replied nonchalantly. “I want to see what new options still exist for me.”“Fine, but the next time you try to run away, I’ll make sure you stay in this prison for good.”Naruto opened the prison from the back and waited for the sand to clear away. As Sasuke crawled through the opening, he whispered softly into Naruto’s ear, “You sure about that? It may take a little more than force to bring me back.”

Naruto’s blush deepened as he stood up and averted his gaze to his feet. Although he knew the raven was trying to mess with him, his blush betrayed his true thoughts.

“Are you trying to hit on me, Sasuke?”“It’s your assumption that I’m hitting on you,” Sasuke said with a smirk. “I’m just saying I wouldn’t let you capture me again as easily as last time.”

Not wanting to admit defeat, Naruto shot him a quick glare.

“I can place you back into that prison if you want me to. Now, are you going to continue to piss me off, or are you going to come with me?”

Giving a shrug, Sasuke followed Naruto out of the woods.

“You know, I’m surprised you haven’t changed at all while working with the Akatsuki.”

“Whilst you’ve only become even more submissive.”

Sasuke managed to avoid Naruto’s punch in time to swiftly disappear behind the trees. Knowing the blonde was serious, he quickly summoned a dozen small snakes.

Can’t he learn to take a joke? He thought, frustrated.

The raven peered over a branch to see Naruto charging towards him with a small Rasengan swirling in his hand. With gritted teeth, he sent his snakes forward with a flick of his wrist. As soon as the first snake bit into Naruto’s shin, he and the Rasengan poofed from existence.

“Listen, Naruto-”

A snake from behind slithered up his leg and wrapped itself tightly around his neck.

What the-

It gave him a piercing glare before lunging towards a clear space. Still wearing a glare, the snake disappeared and Naruto took its place.

“Do not underestimate me. I am not the same person you knew as a genin.”

Sasuke stood frozen to the spot as the blonde headed towards the village.

Did I hurt him that badly? I’ve never seen him like this before.

Feeling bad for teasing him, Sasuke decided to take his chances and apologize to Naruto. It only took him a minute or two to catch up with the blonde nin.

“Look, Naruto-”

“What do you want, Sasuke?”“I’m sorry for teasing you back there. It was completely uncalled for.”After staring into Sasuke’s solemn onyx eyes for a few moments, Naruto knew he was being serious.

“I’m sorry too for attacking you like that. I-I’m just kind of stressed out from dealing with the villagers’ problems every day. It’s not easy being Hokage.”“So, are you going to show me where I’m going to live, or what?”To Sasuke’s relief, a wide grin formed on Naruto’s face.

“Yeah, of course.”Fortunately, Kakashi was true to his word, and they didn’t encounter a single person while traveling through the village. They finally reached the apartment, and Naruto eagerly unlocked the door and opened it.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like for you to stay here until things start to cool down.” Naruto said as he closed the door behind him.

“Sure, I don’t mind.”After giving Sasuke a quick tour, Naruto explained he’d be busy for the rest of the day.

“See ya!”
“Bye, dobe.”

While Sasuke cleaned up the entire apartment out of boredom, Naruto spent the rest of the afternoon rebuilding the village. With Yamato’s help, they created a hospital and a couple of privately owned businesses.

To Naruto’s delight, he was able to help rebuild an exact replica of Ichiraku Ramen Bar.

Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen Bar, profusely thanked him over and over again for rebuilding the shop.

“Once it’s open, it would be my honor to give you as much ramen as you want, free from charge!”

“I’ll be sure to take up on your offer,” The blonde chuckled. “It was my pleasure to rebuild Ichiraku Ramen Bar.”

The reconstruction for the day ended once the sun set. It was also around dinner time, and Naruto was starving. He joined up with Kakashi, Sai, and Sakura and they chatted about their day while heading to their apartment.

“Hey Sasuke!” Naruto greeted as he and the others entered.

A mixture of thick and sweet scents met his nose, and he curiously walked into the kitchen. He had to quickly duck away and stuff his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing at the scene before him. Sasuke, the Uchiha Sasuke, was cooking with a serious look on his face while wearing a frilly, pink apron. Although Naruto had to admit he looked good in it, it was too much of an odd scene to behold.

“What are you looking at?” The raven hissed, shooting Naruto a death glare.

“Nothing. What are you cooking?”“I worked with whatever I could find in here, and made a main course and dessert. Now I’m just waiting for a few more things to finish up.”
“Seriously though, where did you learn to cook?”“The Akatsuki.”

Still confused, Naruto tilted his head to the side.

“Its members have…unique diets, so I was forced to learn to cook for myself and become familiar with the ingredients surrounding me.”

“Something smells good,” Kakashi commented, looking at what Sasuke was cooking. “Whoa, good job, Sasuke. I never knew you could cook.”

“I’m sorry about the apron,” Sakura apologized with a small smile. “It’s mine.”“Hn.”While Sasuke continued to cook, the others set the dishes on the table. They even included Sasuke into their discussion from earlier while they ate.

“Thanks for the food, Sasuke!”

“It was really good.”

“Agreed.”

“It couldn’t have been better.”

It was well past midnight by the time they had run out of things to talk about.

“I’m going to bed,” Sakura announced with a loud yawn. “Good night.”“Night, Sakura-chan!”“Night.”“Good night.”

“Hn.”

As the others went to their bedrooms, Sasuke approached Naruto.

“Where will I be sleeping?”“You can either take my cot or the couch. Your choice.”“I’ll take the couch, thanks.”With an awkward smile, Naruto gave him a quick nod before leaving to his own room.

Well, I finally had a good day! He thought happily to himself. Who would’ve known that Sasuke could actually act like a civilized human being?

You’d better enjoy it while you can, another voice joked.

Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, he saw a tall figure rise from the floor near the window. The moon light outlined a strangely familiar figure, but who was it…?“Oh shi-”

Before he could reach for a kunai blade, the figure appeared before the cot with its hand around his throat.

“I am Madara, the leader of the Akatsuki. If you want your seven ninjas back, you will trade Sasuke for them by tomorrow afternoon.”

The hand, along with the rest of Madara, vanished into thin air.

Hinata…

This was his last thought before his vision turned completely black.