Chapter-92
"What's wrong, Naruto?" In the Leaf Village, to be more precise above the head of the Fourth Hokage, two people were sitting in silence, appreciating the peaceful night of the new moon. These were Naruto and Shishui, the latter being the one who looked worriedly at his apprentice, who had been quieter than normal these last few days.
"..." With a gloomy look, the little blonde just observed the village, a place he would do anything to protect. Raising his gaze, he looked at the sky. "Sensei?... Are we bad people?" That question caught the Uchiha off guard, who looked at his apprentice with confusion. "I have done things... bad things. I have killed people who did not deserve it..." The Uzumaki clenched his fists under his head. "Natsumi and Satsuki look at me as if I'm their hero... with admiration... with affection... even with everything I did, I can't even look at them without remembering how I left a woman adrift with a baby..." The boy's eyes began to crystallize as he spoke.
"…" The Uchiha shinobi listened silently as his apprentice was breaking down, thinking that he was just a nine-year-old boy and had already done things that he should never have even thought of.
"Sometimes I can't sleep... I feel nauseous when I eat... I don't know what to do." Slowly, small tears formed and fell down more of the blonde's cheeks, who lowered his head looking at the ground, not wanting his teacher to see him this way, showing weakness at the same time, crying in this pathetic way.
"What you feel is guilt..." Shishui approached the boy to put his arm around the boy's shoulders, comforting him while he cried. "I won't lie to you when I tell you that that will disappear. Those bad memories and bad feelings that it causes you will never go away. In this bad state, you can only bear this guilt and move on." Patting the boy's back a few times, he saw that he was calming down. "Just remember why we do this... for the safety and well-being of this town." Standing up, he helped his student to stand up. "Go home and hug your family. They are the reason why you are getting blood on your hands, Naruto. They are the reason why we have to do whatever it takes to keep this peace... so that they smile with happiness and enjoy the peace that we may never have."
….
Opening his eyes, Naruto woke up and got out of bed. Looking around, he could only grunt as he passed his arm over his eyes, another dream of a past that he couldn't forget. Today was his last day off before returning to school at UA, and he wasn't in the mood at all. But since when did he have the courage to get up?
Standing up, he could only make himself a coffee. Drinking last night left a bitter taste in his mouth. Walking around his apartment, he followed the routine of cleaning himself and drinking something to wake up completely. As the minutes passed, he was already wearing a white t-shirt with dark pants. Sitting in the only chair in his apartment, he gave a blank and cold look at his coffee that was on the table.
**Knock, knock, knock.**
Giving a grunt when he heard someone knock on the door, he got up to go to the front door. Opening it, he found an old woman with short white hair. She had a short and stout posture typical of people of such an advanced age. She was wearing a large white nightgown and slippers, and the most notable were the cane and dark glasses that covered her eyes. Smiling kindly, the old woman looked at the shinobi.
"Good morning Naruto-chan... I hope I'm not interrupting something," she spoke slowly while still outside the teenager's apartment.
"No, Mrs. Yuroichi, did the water heater fail again?" He asked in a neutral but soft tone, eliciting a short laugh from the old woman who only leaned on her cane.
"As always, to the point Naruto-chan, and yes, it failed miserably again." At his response, the Uzumaki only closed the door, and then a few seconds later, he came out with a somewhat rusty toolbox. The older woman turned around to walk down the street hallways of the apartment, using her right hand to follow a mark on the wall and using her cane as support. Climbing some stairs, the two reached the sixth floor to reach their destination. "Come in," opening the door, the old woman passed, being followed by the teenager.
Without saying anything, the blonde walked through the apartment. It was small but comfortable, with decorations that only an old woman would like. Reaching a closet, the shinobi opened the door to see an old water heater that was rusted in several places and had a few small leaks. "..." With a sigh, the Uzumaki knelt down to open the toolbox and start working.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Yuroichi walked through the house carefully. When she got to the kitchen, she took off her glasses to show that her pupils were completely white, revealing the obvious; she was blind. "And tell me, how are you doing at school? Superheroes?" She asked calmly as she began to prepare two cups of tea.
"Full of idiotic, conceited, and arrogant children," was the response of the Uzumaki who dismantled the frame of the water equipment to find some rotten cables. Tearing them out, he began to cut and place new cables with some effort since it was still difficult for him to fix these kinds of things.
"Naruto-chan, you sound like an old man. Let us grumpy old men criticize the new generation," smiling at what he said, she took two cups of tea to sit in a single armchair and leave the two cups on a small wooden table. "You know, I've lived in this building for sixty years and seen the world change along with society." Rocking in his chair, he only heard how the teenager gave a dry laugh.
"I wouldn't say 'see' is the word," answered Naruto who finished the wiring. Using a wrench, he replaced the metal plates around the water heater.
"You don't have to see to know that everything is wrong. Crimes in the streets, senseless battles between 'heroes' and 'villains' that only cause more damage. These streets are no longer what they were before. Before, you could walk through the streets without expecting them to kill you just for coins or a simple provocation..." with a sigh, he stopped smiling to put a few spoonfuls of sugar in his tea.
"Well, I should sell this dump and live in a better area of the city." Finishing fixing the water heater, he turned it on to see, satisfied, that it turned on and started working.
"My father did not build this building so that I could sell it to a company that only thinks about condominiums for rich people who do not even know how to dig a well with a shovel. Only dead will they take me out of this place." He spoke with confidence and determination while taking a sip of his tea.
"If you refuse to accept their offer, they will kill you. They are a powerful company that will not hesitate to end the life of an old woman to earn more money. I am your only tenant. You must just accept the payment and go to a 'best place to spend your last days,'" said the shinobi with a more serious tone who sat on a wooden bench to take the cup of tea that the old woman offered him and drink.
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