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Chapter 3: Loyalties
"Outsiders from Konoha?"
Naruto froze outside the tea shop.
"It's just a rumor," the rain ninja shrugged, "but apparently they're coming to have a meeting with Lady Tsubasa."
"Lady Angel's successor is too kind. Don't tell me she's allowing this?"
"She’s doing it as a favor to Lord Pain's savior."
Savior...?
A hand clapped down on his shoulder, making him jump. Between the rain and the wind, his red rain robe was barely keeping him dry.
"Partner, c'mon." Tsuna pointed. "I’ve got to show you something."
Naruto followed him to a dark alley, where a young woman was lying unconscious beneath a wide window sill. She was bruised and bleeding from her temples.
And she had red hair.
"Is she...?" Tsuna asked.
Naruto didn't need to concentrate that much.
"Yeah."
Scooping her up, he noticed one more thing. Glasses, badly cracked but still whole.
"Ooh she must be smart!" Tsuna leaned over her. "And she's sexy too!"
Naruto made a face at him. "And unconscious."
"Calm down! I'm not like that Mami."
Naruto nodded, smiling. "I know."
"Will she be okay?"
"I don't think it's that bad... But seal the wounds on her head shut."
He did, and they headed back, sticking to the rooftops and the shadows.
"Why don't you ever fight against Mami?" Tsuna asked.
Naruto knit his brow, like someone stabbed him between the eyes with a needle.
"I do." He admitted. "But whenever I shove her or hurt her in whatever way, the curse transfers the pain she feels to me. It's like I'm being skinned alive from the inside, and poisoned. The more pain she feels, the stronger the curses 'punishment.' And that gives her an opening."
"It works with all of us doesn't it? That's how Seto was able to cut you back then, right?"
"Yes."
Tsuna brushed his fingers through his spiky red hair and looked even grimmer. It was unlike him.
"Did you hear about the visitors from Konoha?"
Naruto was shocked. Why did Tsuna care about that?
Then again, why did Naruto?
"What about them?"
"They say Sasuke is among them."
"Who's that?"
He's an Uchiha." Kurama growled.
"Ummm... He is?" Naruto ('s mental self) crossed his arms and legs, squinting at the floor.
"No you fool!" Kurama's scream rattled the bars of his cage, shook the walls, and blew Naruto's hair and clothes back all in one go. "Not a fan a person from the Uchiha clan!"
Naruto's face twisted up in confusion. "There's a fan clan?"
Kurama hit him over the head with his tail.
"Listen to me! That guy is bad news! Uchiha's can control Jinchuuriki's easily. You should be safe, with me here and the illusionist immunity training of the Uzumaki. But stay away from him!"
"I know that much! And here you are trying to convince me he's one of my fans!"
Kurama whacked him again, sending him back to reality.
"But those sharingan make me uneasy, too."
Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Sharingan...?"
"Yeah. They’re the Uchiha kekkei genkai. Sharingan let you control someone like a puppet, read their mind, mentally torture them, copy their jutsu, you name it! The Uchiha all had these gloom and doom complexes from what I hear. Broody little things. The last one I heard of, some guy named Sasuke, actually tried to kill his best friend just to gain power!"
"How would that help him get stronger?"
"There's this evolved form of sharingan called mangekyo!" Tsuna answered. "They say the only way to get it is to kill your closest friend."
Naruto's right chest felt sore for some reason. And he was furious.
"But that’s despicable!"
Tsuna softened. "Hey don't worry about it okay? It's got nothing to do with us. But that does remind me... a few years back some Orochimaru lackeys found a whole stash of preserved sharingan and started selling them on the black market. They made millions."
"Well I don't want those disgusting things in my sockets!" Naruto decided.
"Don't worry, partner, we can watch each other’s backs so everything turns out okay!" Tsuna laid his fist over his heart. "As your family and best freind I will always be beside you, protecting you!"
Naruto frowned, stubborn. "I don't need anyone's protection."
"Ha!" Tsuna shoved him. "Says the guy who used to be just like a zombie, couldn't even hold a spoon."
Naruto didn't deny it. His first memories after Uri found him were so unclear he probably DID act like a zombie back then.
"I mean! It was just really bad, you know?" Tsuna said, no longer joking. "On top of your own memories, you'd forgotten most of how to move and talk. You couldn't identify simple things like chairs or paper. Whenever you spoke up, it was just to tell us your body or your head felt heavy, and you slept a lot and wouldn't eat anything we gave you. I seriously thought you would die."
Naruto smiled. What brought him out of that was Tsuna, who joined the clan after Naruto and Uri did.
Tsuna was born from a surrogate mother, and his father disappeared after his biological mom died. He found the Uzumaki and Naruto identified him as one of their own. He was treated as a half-blood because of his background, and Naruto protected him from the others. They were as close as brothers, and became best friends.
Seto disliked Tsuna, too. Though not as much as Naruto.
Naruto would never bend to his will. He had his own way of doing things. And he hated Seto.
He was garbage from another era. He didn't deserve to be an Uzumaki, let alone rule them.
"Still, it’s kind of exciting having an amnesiac best friend." Tsuna bopped him on the shoulder. "I never knew friends could be so loyal."
"Loyal?" Naruto asked.
Tsuna crossed his arms behind his head. "Yes. I really don't care about Seto. My loyalties lie with you!"
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