19 Consequences

I slowly opened my eyes, noticing the familiar hospital ceiling. I sat up groggily, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I looked around and saw Ayame sitting at my bedside.

"Hey, Ayame. How long have I been out?" I asked.

She looked down and her eyes were shadowed by her hair.

"Two weeks," She said.

I winced, "Ah, sorry about that. I'll make dinner when I'm out of here as an apology."

At this, she abruptly stood up.

"Ayame? What's wrong?" I asked.

"What's wrong?" She whispered, her hands trembling.

"That's all you have to say? After nearly dying again, all you can ask is, 'What's wrong?'"

I started to speak up again, "Ayame, I-"

"NO! I'm tired of this," she interrupted, "Of you going off without backup, nearly dying, and then acting like nothing's wrong."

She looked at me, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Do you even think about how everyone else feels when you pull stuff like that? How your mom feels when you get stuck in the hospital for weeks at a time? How Isamu and I feel seeing our teammate nearly kill himself when he could've just asked for help?

You were surrounded by some of the most powerful jonins in Konoha and you didn't even think to ask them for help? Not even me or Isamu?"

The tears started falling, "Is that all we are to you? Just your weak teammates that can't help you deal with bigger problems?"

I grimaced, "Ayame, you know it's not like that."

"Do I? Because most of the time, you act like it is… You know, Sasuke left… And they didn't have enough strong shinobi to send out; you were the only one that could've stopped it…" At this, she deflated.

She turned around and started walking away.

"Ayame, wait…" But she was already gone.

My mind was reeling from that, and for the next hour, I was in a trance, unable to believe I affected other people that much.

But maybe, she's right?

I was broken out of my thoughts when the Hokage entered my room.

I immediately bowed, "Lord Hokage," but he stopped me.

"I'm not the Hokage anymore, Kaen. But that's not what I came here to talk about."

His face became serious, "Because of your reckless actions and endangering your fellow Konoha shinobi, you've been demoted to the rank of special jonin. The Godaime cannot trust your ability to lead your fellow shinobi.

Also, you owe Kurenai, Asuma, and Guy an apology. They risked themselves to chase after and rescue you from your foolishness."

I winced at that.

The former Hokage didn't stay for pleasantries and directly walked out the door after saying his piece.

My thoughts were a mess for the next few hours before I was discharged from the hospital. It was still early in the afternoon, so I headed straight to my house to check up on Mom.

When I entered, I immediately noticed something was off. There were dishes piled up in the sink and I could see dust covering most of the surfaces.

That wasn't it, though. When I got close to my mom's room, I could hear her softly crying. I slowly cracked open the door, seeing my mom in a worse state than I'd ever seen her. The room smelled; most likely, it hadn't been cleaned in a while. Her hair was a mess and there were bags under her eyes.

She was crying before she took a sip of whatever she was holding. As I looked closer, it was a bottle of sake.

Oh, God…

"Mom…" I started, not really knowing what to say.

She looked up hopefully, before dropping her bottle and running over to embrace me. She started sobbing, my shoulder getting wet from her tears.

"I'm so glad you're okay! I don't know what I'd do if I lost you…" She said.

I gently pushed her away, looking into her eyes. I saw her despair at me almost dying again, but also the unconditional love she had for me.

I winced, realizing that I was the cause of this.

"Mom, how about you get cleaned up and we have lunch out together? My treat," I said.

She wiped the tears out of her eyes and gave me a beautiful smile, "I would love that, sweety."

After she cleaned up and took a shower, we headed to a barbeque place. As we were getting our table, I noticed two people were also there. People I owed an apology to.

"You go sit down, Mom, I have something to take care of first."

She nodded and went to sit.

I then walked over and approached Kurenai and Asuma, who looked at me indifferently.

"Thank you for saving my life that day." I said, before bowing deeply, "I'm sorry for my reckless actions that day. It was unbefitting conduct for a shinobi. I promise I won't make such reckless decisions again."

We definitely weren't going to be best buddies anytime soon, but they grudgingly accepted my apology.

Asuma sighed, "Just don't do it again, kid, and we're good."

I nodded and walked away, rejoining my mom who had witnessed the whole thing.

"I'm proud of you, son," She said, causing me to develop a small smile.

We chatted for a bit and she caught me up on the things that happened around the village while I was out of it. We enjoyed a filling meal of barbeque before I took her home.

I looked at her, "We should probably start cleaning this place up, huh?"

She just nodded, slightly embarrassed at the state of the house.

So for the next hour, we cleaned the house. I did the dishes and cleaned the dust, while she tidied up her room again.

After that was done, I spoke up, "I have some people to apologize to, so I'll be going. I'll be back before dinner."

"Okay, honey. I'll see you then."

And I was off to the training grounds, looking for Guy. Eventually, I found him training with Lee, both practicing their kicks.

Guys stopped what he was doing and addressed me, "Ah, Kaen! How can I help you on this fine day?"

I proceeded to thank him and apologize for my reckless actions, but he just waved me off.

"No worries, young man! I can tell you're just entering your springtime of YOUTH! It is normal to make such decisions in the heat of the moment."

I was grateful that he accepted my apology, before moving to find my teammates.

I found Isamu first.

"Hey," I said lamely.

He just stared at me, uncharacteristically quiet. I sighed.

"I realize I've not been a good friend to you lately, Isamu. I've pretty much ignored you since we were promoted to chunin, and for that, I'm sorry. If you'll forgive me, I promise to be a better friend from now on; the friend you deserve."

He smiled, "It's about time you realized. But I guess I can let you off the hook just this once."

I sighed in relief.

"But I have one condition; spar with me sometime."

"That's it?" I asked, bewildered that a spar was all he was asking for.

"Yep. That's it. Now, get going. Don't you still have Ayame to apologize to? She was a lot more broken up about it than I was, especially with Sasuke leaving."

I just nodded gratefully before heading to the Uchiha compound. I got there quickly and headed for the main house. I entered but wasn't greeted by the usual cheer that the brats have. Ren, the second oldest, just glared at me.

"I don't know what you did to Big Sis, but you better fix it. Or I'll kick your ass."

I grimaced, "Where is she?"

"In her room," he answered.

I nodded before heading up the stairs. Soon, I was standing in front of Ayame's door. I slowly opened it, just to see her sitting down on her bed, staring at me. Yeah, she probably heard me coming in.

I closed the door behind me and took a deep breath in.

"Ayame, I'm sorry."

She just raised an eyebrow at me.

I sighed, "I'm sorry for not asking you for help ever. I'm sorry for being so reckless all the time, without thinking about how the people around me feel. And lastly, I'm sorry for being a bad friend and teammate."

I looked down, "I understand if you don't forgive me, but at least-"

I didn't get to finish, as she had gotten up and embraced me.

"Promise me that you won't do such stupid things in the future and that you'll ask for help when you need it."

I nodded, "I promise."

She let me go and nodded, a slight blush adorning her cheeks.

We chatted for a bit, but it was still a bit awkward considering the conversation we just had. So I excused myself.

After all my apologies were done, I found myself walking aimlessly around the village, taking in the sights. Soon enough, I found myself back in the old clearing behind the playground, where I used to train as a kid.

I thought back on my life in Naruto and realized how lucky I was. How lucky I was to get a loving mother and good friends in this life. How lucky I was to get a system that allowed me to become strong. And how I had been wasting it.

Sure, I trained hard when I was a kid and kept training hard all the way up until I was a chunin. But after I stopped the Third from dying, I became complacent. I stopped training as much and took my friends and family for granted. I started making arrogant decisions, such as chasing after the Akatsuki without the strength to back it up. I stopped talking with my friends as much and didn't consider how my mom felt this whole time.

"How would you feel if you knew I was given a second chance and squandered it, Dad?"

I wasn't talking about my dad from this life, no; I was talking about my dad from the past, a powerful, rich, successful CEO. I never knew who my mom was.

Much like in this life, I squandered what I had, because I had it all. Money, influence, and friends, there was nothing I lacked, except self-control. My dad ignored me most of the time, so I spent much of my early life trying to impress him enough to pay attention to me.

But that desire eventually turned into rebellion, and I started acting out. Even if it was him scolding me, it was the most he ever talked to me in my life. So, I spent my time doing drugs with friends and partying. I was wasting away, with nothing to live for except the next thrill…

Eventually, I got behind the wheel after one too many drinks, and woke up here, in this new world.

I promised myself that I would become great in this life; that I would be stronger. But I ended up falling into the same complacency I fell into in my last life.

No more. I won't keep wasting away this life. I will change. No more stupid decisions for the next thrill, this time I'll be more responsible. I've gotten everything I could've wanted in this life, so no more squandering it.

It was this day that I promised myself I wouldn't only be strong for myself, but for the people I care about as well.

I returned home and had dinner with my mom. Immediately after cleaning up, I headed to my room. It was time to start training again.

For the next 15 minutes, I wrote down my plan for when I was in the village.

5:00 am: Wake up time.

5:00-5:30: Breakfast.

5:30-7:00: Taijutsu training.

7:00-9:00: Kenjutsu training.

9:00-12:00: Fire technique training.

12:00-1:00: Lunch break.

1:00-3:00: Training with Isamu and Ayame.

And that was it. The rest of the time I would either be doing missions or hanging out with my friends and family. This time, I was going to make time for what really matters in my life.

With that done, I laid down and went to bed.

///// A/N /////

Hello all. This is my first attempt at writing character development and drama, so let me know what you think. Also, I noticed that a lot of people didn't like the last chapter because Kaen was stupid, and I agree; he was dumb. This was necessary for me to finally bring up his past life and develop his character. He might still be kind of dumb after this because I'm also dumb, but he will also be more responsible and won't just charge headfirst into fights he can't win. Lastly, a couple of people have asked why he didn't train with a wooden sword when he was young, and I have a reason for that: I forgot. Uh, whoops? Anyway, leave a review!