"thinking"
flashbacks
"talking"
Chapter 2 - The Jacket
by Zynthos
Naruto woke up for the first time in weeks not to the monotone beeping of a travel alarm clock but to the sound of feet hitting pavement and the laughter of the Konoha citizens. He cherished the fact that he could wake up at his own leisure and that he didn’t have to be battle ready immediately after his head lifted off the ground, and that he didn’t need to sleep on the ground at all. Granted, he enjoyed himself whenever he was out on a mission, and loved the excitement of taking on an operation, however, he had begun to feel lonely out on the field. It wasn’t because he had someone special waiting for him back home. Heck, none of his friends, not even Kakashi-sensei really knew who he actually was, and what was hiding behind the mask he wore; I mean, when a murderous traitor is your best friend something has got to be wrong with your friendships. Naruto didn’t blame them. Years of practice had made him a master of disguising his face and so the fact that he had no close friends was not surprising.
Throwing off his bed sheets he rushed through his morning routine wanting to get to the one thing on his mind “Ramen!!”. Five minutes later Naruto rushed out of his little apartment taking time only to slip on his infamous orange jacket. As he raced to his favorite ramen bar his thoughts became reminiscent, thinking about the jacket on his back.
Flashback:
Naruto was surprised when he was called into the Hokage’s office. He didn’t expect to get caught for drawing mustaches on the Hokage monument until next week. The thought kept Naruto from bouncing around the spacious office. He had always thought the room was too bare and had tried to convince the Hokage to spruce up the dreary room. The response he got was two very fake looking trees adorning each side of the desk found in the center of the room and a picture of a house hanging on the wall. Old people had the weirdest sense of liveliness. His thoughts were interrupted by a cough and he turned his head to see the Hokage who had just entered the room. His mind began preparing for the “You should be a responsible young man speech” or the "you need to be intentional in your actions lecture". He didn't even know what intentional meant!
He was surprised when the Hokage in stead handed him a brown package. The letterhead was addressed to Naruto. Saying the said person was surprised would have been an understatement. He never got mail. He didn’t even own a mailbox, which was probably the reason why the package was passed to the Hokage. Naruto excitedly ripped the wrapping off and gave a loud yell of triumph as he held up his new bright orange jacket. It smelled of lilies. He picked up a card that had fallen from the massacred wrapping paper and look over it once. His face instantly brightened up. “Merry Christmas Naruto-kun” was all it said. Assuming it was the Hokage’s present Naruto jumped up over the desk and gave the older man a tight embrace. “Thanks old man!” exclaimed the boy newly clad in orange. “Oh don’t thank me,” was the reply, “It isn’t my gift. Besides I need you to clean up the mess you made on the Hokage monument. They need someone to help them shave...”. Upon hearing the Hokage Naruto jumped off the desk, and while making a speedy getaway cried behind his back “See ya old man”…
End flashback.
Ever since that day, Naruto was never seen without his jacket. Naruto cherished the loud gift because it gave him a sense of being noticed, something he had strived for every day of his life. It really was quite silly now that he thought about it, being this attached to a piece of clothing, but it was one of the few treasured possessions that brought him comfort. It was a sad substitute for a family indeed. He had wondered a couple of times who the gift giver was, but was either too busy with training, ramen, or both, to give it much thought. Naruto was sure, however, that he could become friends with whoever the mystery person was. Maybe even a close friend unhindered by his façade. “No”, he thought cynically, “that could never happen”.
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Hinata quietly left the Hyuga mansion and headed towards the training grounds to meet her teammates. Even though they had all been named Chunin, Team 8, along with the rest of the rookie 9 and Team Gai still worked with their respected genin teams. No one complained about the fact, and no one brought it up to the Hokage who would have done nothing anyways. Because of this, each team learned to fight together as a single unit eventually building up a reputation among the shinobi nations as the up and coming wave of shinobi that would push Konoha into the position of “strongest hidden village”. Hinata looked around before walking on the main road. She knew it was inevitable, but she wanted to postpone meeting up with Kiba as long as possible. He had gotten up early so that he could walk with her to the training grounds all the while spouting out how beautiful she looked that morning, and how she smelled of lilies (he is a dog trainer, he smells things). Kiba’s flirting was embarrassing Hinata terribly but she was way too polite, not to mention embarrassed, to tell Kiba to stop. The only sign of discomfort was a very red flush, and her best effort to ignore him. Kiba saw it as a good sign. After all, the only other person she had blushed for was Naruto.
The field was void of people when Hinata showed up at the training grounds. “That’s good” she thought to herself as she sat down under an oak tree. She then took out a scroll from her pack and began to read. She found that reading each morning before training drained her from any stress beforehand and helped her relax the rest of the day. Considering the stress from family, from the new found responsibilities of being a freshly appointed Chunin, and from her own personal anxieties, every little bit helped. She enjoyed fiction novels once in a while, but the book she currently held talked about different ethical beliefs. It was rather ironic, since a ninja was suppose to kill his or her beliefs and morals in order to complete missions. “I guess that’s what I like about Konoha” Hinata thought to herself “beliefs and different morals are accepted here”. She looked up from her book when she heard footsteps walking toward her. All she could see was red as something sweet-smelling was thrust towards her face. “Happy Valentine’s day, Hinata!” a voice said from behind the bush of red. A bark was heard as well. Looking passed the flora Hinata saw Shino standing next to Kiba who had his arm extended towards her holding a dozen red roses. “Score!” thought Kiba as he witnessed Hinata’s cheeks turn a light pink. He didn’t notice the slightly annoyed look on her face. Besides, how could Hinata be annoyed by anything? “Make sure none of Shino’s bugs eat any of the flowers” the dog trainer said trying to lighten the mood. Hinata grinned at the comment. Shino stood as stoic as ever. “Say, Hinata,” Kiba continued, “Do you want to have lunch with me after we finish training?” “I don’t know… I have to get home and… serve the tea to Niji-nissan and otousan.” Hinata quickly said as an excuse to not join Kiba for lunch. “Oh come on Hinata. You’re going to make me cry” said the first while giving his best puppy pout (a forced to be reckoned with when applied by a dog user). Sighing in defeat Hinata let her guilt triumph and agreed to a meal with her teammate.
Shino silently observed as the incident unfolded. Then quietly, unnoticed by his teammates turned around as if nothing happened.
----------------------------------------------------
Naruto had just finished his 11th bowl of ramen. He sat there after he has slurped the few stray noodles from the bowl silently deciding whether or not to eat a dozen bowls this morning or to stop at eleven. Naturally he opted for one more. People always warned Naruto about eating too much ramen. “You’ll grow fat” they said. “You are going to be stuck as a shorty” they said. He was neither of these as the shinobi training had kept him well built, and a couple of years ago, as a sixteen year old, he had hit his growth spurt. His thoughts drifted back to his orange jacket. There was nothing wrong with an orange colored jacket was there? Even if he was a shinobi right?
Earlier, before he could start on his 4th bowl, a chunin had walked into the ramen bar loudly talking to a fellow shinobi next to him. They had sat down on the stools next to Naruto. It wasn’t Naruto’s fault for eavesdropping on the conversation. Their voices could be heard on the other side of the street. Besides, the story the chunin was telling the other about a recent mission was rather entertaining. Evidently, the shinobi storyteller did not appreciate the blond haired kid he recognized as the jinchuriki listening to his tale. With a malevolent smirk on his face he continued the story as if nothing was wrong. Eventually he started to describe a village he had visited.
Flashback:
“So what was so bad ‘bout the village neh?”
“Well, there was this REALLY annoying brat there. He actually considered himself a shinobi but it was obvious he was only a loser. He was an ignorant fool.”
“Why’dee stand out neh?”
“HA! It’s ironic you should ask why he stood out. The moron was wearing a bright orange jacket that pretty much screamed ‘I’m an idiot. Kill me first!’. I’d never want him to be on my team during a mission. He’d probably get us killed with his loud mouth, and even louder jacket.” He turned away from his comrade and glared straight at Naruto. “I bet he has absolutely no friends.” Maybe Naruto was thick headed, but he wasn’t stupid. Many people viewed him as someone with a huge ego and a short temper, but that was not the case either. Even though he would not allow anybody to hurt one of his precious people in any way, Naruto had been hurt enough physically, mentally, and emotionally to build calluses against such abuse. This was not to say it didn’t hurt, but rather that he didn’t have to start a fight over it. Naruto had decided to take an early leave from his breakfast and was about to leave the shop when an angry, red-faced Teuchi Ichiraku, who had seen the whole transaction, ordered the two shinobi out of his shop. The two ninja just smirked and walked towards the door, but not before knocking Naruto’s unfinished bowl or ramen spilling over Naruto and onto the floor. “Oops” one said as they stepped out onto the street laughing at the younger nins “misfortune”.
“Thanks old man” was all Naruto could say as Teuchi sadly looked at him.
End flashback
Naruto wasn’t about to let a couple of stupid chunin bother him “They’re just fools”¬ Naruto assured himself. Sitting up straight after finishing the last few remains of his twelfth bowl he turned around at the sound of someone walking towards him. Sakura sat down next to Naruto. “Hey, I figured I’d find you here” the pink haired Kunoichi joked with a grin. “Hey!” replied Naruto “This is only the greatest restaurant in the whole world, no scratch that, the whole universe!” Both shinobi laughed at the proclamation. “Naruto, would you mind training with me after you finish your meal?” Sakura asked after they had both stopped laughing. “Sure thing. Just let me pay the old man and we’ll be off.” Naruto replied. “Say Sakura-chan,” Naruto continued as he paid Teuchi for the meal, “Do you think I should get rid of my jacket?”
“Why do you ask Naruto?”
“No reason, I was just wondering that’s all”
“Well now that you mentioned it, it is a bit raggity”
“Oh, thanks Saku…“
“And it’s stained with heaven knows what.”
”I see, wel…“
“If it were me I would have through” concluded Sakura
“ok, thanks Sakura-chan. Look, I just realized I forgot to do something at home. I’ll have to train with you some other time”
“Ok, then I’ll see you around”
“Yeah… see you later…” Naruto replied as the two shinobi split up
Naruto walked down the market district of Konoha deep in thought, something he found himself to do a lot more often these days (thinking, not walking down the street). “It is getting a bit small nowadays,”¬ he thought to himself. One part of him wanted to get rid of his old jacket but part of him wanted to keep it on. As he strolled along he found himself in front of a clothing store. “Ah, what the heck” trying to keep losing his treasured piece of clothing as trivial sounding as possible. “Note to self. Never ask a girl about clothes.” He thought to himself as he walked into the store.
---------------------------------------------------
Hinata walked out of the store with a lily in her hand. She had survived her first “date”, as Kiba liked to call it, with the dog shinobi. After eating at the new café, where Kiba had insisted on paying for both of them, they had gone to the market district to look at the different trinkets made by the artisans of the village. When they had stopped at the Yamanaka flower store to greet Ino, Kiba had immediately seized the chance and once again insisted, this time, on buying Hinata a rose. After much debate both parties agreed that a lily would act as a sufficient compromise. Thus they found themselves in front of the line of shops. If Hinata had not liked Naruto she would have thought Kiba’s actions to have been quite gentlemen like. Even now she was grateful for their friendship. Hinata thanked Kiba for the flower and the two were about to part ways when they both heard a voice. “You two are a rather odd couple,” Naruto said as he jumped from his perch on top of the roof of the store. He was met by a blushing Hinata, a slightly miffed Kiba, and Ino’s head as she popped it out of the shop door. “I kid” Naruto said to cover up his first comment, but “not really” was added in his head. “Oh no!” Hinata thought in a panic “Naruto-kun thinks that Kiba and I are a couple!” “N-naruto-kun I-it is-sn’t really l-like that!” Hinata said trying to make her Naruto-kun believe her. All she got was the famous Uzumaki grin. Ino smirked knowingly.
“Kiba, are we still on for Monday?” Naruto asked trying to change the subject.
“You bet. Shikamaru, Neji, and Choji are all coming.”
“Awesome”
“Ano… N-naruto-kun?” Hinata interrupted, “W-where is your j-jacket?”
“Oh, that old thing? Heh. I figured I’d try a wardrobe change yeah? Do you like it Hinata?” Naruto was wearing black hoodie with a tan jacket over it. He also wore dark gray kaki pants. They gave a great contrast to his bright blond hair and light cerulean eyes. A soft “yes” was heard coming from Hinata’s lips but tears were streaming down her face.
“Ano? Hinata, what’s wrong?” Naruto, followed by Kiba and Ino, rushed up to Hinata to try to comfort her. “What’s wrong?” Hinata repeated in her head, “how could you get rid of that jacket Naruto-kun?” Not only had Hinata associated the jacket with Naruto, she was the one that had given it to him.
Flashback:
A 7 year old Hyuga Hinata was walking out of the academy doors. She sat down on the side of the stairs letting the other students pass by. As she waited for her okaasan she huddled inside the new coat that she had gotten for Christmas. It was the middle of the winter, and she was glad she had something warm to shield her from the cold. She watched the other kids as they walked by; they also had thick winter coats like the one she was wearing. Her eyes stopped panning when she spotted Naruto sitting alone on a swing shivering in the cold. The only thing he was wearing was a thin tee-shirt! Hinata would have gone over to Naruto to help him had she been less shy and her mother had not just shown up.
“Okaasan?” the young Hyuga heir said
“Yes dear?”
“Do you think we could stop at the clothing store before going home? I want to use my allowance money”
“Why is that dear?”
“Naruto-kun looks cold” Her mother smiled at this
“Yes, I think we can make a short trip to the store”
End Flashback
She could only buy an orange windbreaker with the limited money she had, and had been too shy to give it to her crush face to face, so much in fact that she couldn’t even build up enough courage to leave it at his house in fear that he would see her. She had decided on giving the gift to the Hokage to deliver. That’s why it upset her so much. Getting rid of the jacket was like throwing away her affection for him.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Naruto spoke up. “I don’t know what’s wrong, and I can only guess, but Hinata, you of all people should know that change is a good thing. I don’t know why that jacket was so important to you but that jacket was very important to me as well… It was my first gift ever…” Hinata looked up, surprised by this. To not receive a gift until you were 8 while watching the other children get Christmas and birthday gifts must have been horrible. “I don’t plan on throwing it away,” Naruto continued. “Until Iruka-sensei, the little gifts that I got on Christmas and my birthday were what made me the most happy. I realize that somebody out there actually cared for me.” Hinata continued to cry, but instead of crying over loosing a jacket, she now weeped over what Naruto had to go through. She wiped the tears from her eyes and gave her best smile. Under the circumstances, the grin looked half forced, but neither Hinata nor Naruto cared.
The atmosphere lightened considerably after that. Everyone in the group was very happy about the lighter mood, considering how thick the atmosphere was before. “You know Hinata, he’s kind of cute in those clothes. That color really accentuates his eyes.” Ino whispered to Hinata as she scooted next to her. Ino winked, Hinata blushed deep crimson, and the thought “girls are weird” crossed Naruto’s mind more then once.
The mood was once again changed when Sakura arrived on the scene. “Hokage-sama want’s you at the tower pronto! She says it’s an emergency!” Thoughts of cute boys and weird girls were immediately chased out of the shinobi’s minds when they heard they had a mission. Well, almost chased out. “Must be important since obaa-chan called us in the middle of the day,” Naruto thought as he and the rest of the shinobi rushed to the Hokage tower.
No one felt the eyes following them as the group hurried down the street. Two figures watched as they made it to the end of the street.
“Is it ready?” asked the first.
“Of course.” replied the second.
“It’s going to be so easy to take what we came for”
“And destroying the village will be an added bonus”
Both figures fought down urges to brake out in an evil cackle.
To be continued…
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Chapter notes: I don't know how many people will read this but here it is. Thanks once again to Kovva and Krissy-chan for being beta readers.
note - I do not own Naruto