Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Naruto sipped at the teacup full of thick, bitter, herbal syrups with a frown. His lungs felt tight and he suspected the cloying incense prescribed for it wasn't helping.

A glass at the clock confirmed his fears again. He had slept through his alarm. Again.

If he hurried he might pick up the tail end of classes.

Maybe. If he was lucky.

Better turn in early and try again tomorrow.

Paperthin skin paled further as he squeezed his teacup tightly in frustration.

Naruto stood with a sigh, pulling a tin of cat food from it's place on the kitchen counter. The opens it and sets it on the table. A tiny tabby kitten hops up, tiny half tail flicking. It meows excitedly.

Naruto sighs.

"At least one of us is having a good day" He says.

He heads back to bed 

Chapter Text

Iruka took a deep breath to steel himself and checked his messenger bag full of instructional materials. He was going to treat the kyuubi jinchūriki like any other student and if any other student was missing this much school because of sickness he'd be giving them home lessons.

The teenager knocks on the door. Nothing but silence greets him. He's turning to leave when he hears the rattle-click-slishck of locks turning. The door creaks open just enough for the tiny blonde to peak out.

"Uzumaki-kun," Iruka greets with more warmth than he feels "I'm here to give you your lessons for the day"

The boy stares at him, face shifting into a mask of awe.

Where people really that outwardly cruel to the boy? Iruka can't help but feeling sick. Any other child .... Any other child and the police would be involved by now, Iruka knows.

Chapter Text

Naruto eyed Miso dubiously. The sandaime said the palomino kiso had belonged to his mother and was specially trained to handle a medically fragile rider. He has his doubts. Three weeks was a long time to be away from his doctors and was an even longer journey.

"Sasuke-kun," Naruto calls his teammate. "Make sure I don't break my neck, please"

The other boy scowls at him but marches over anyway, kneeling to cup his hands so Naruto can boost himself up.

"Thank you," Naruto says, clinging to the horses back like his life depends on it. Miso snorts. 

Soon enough the entire team is in formation around their drunken client. Naruto absently wonders if he should tell his sensei Tanzuna is lying. Probably not.

Naruto is well trained, being an Uzumaki suffering from chronic chakra deviation pretty much guarantees that his education is focused on mental skills, but he's still a genin.

Surely a jounin would notice trouble, Naruto thinks to himself as they set off.

The first true sign of anything wrong is the way Miso tenses below him, as if the golden horse is preparing to jump. Then he sees the puddle. It hasn't rained in weeks.

Naruto glances at Kakashi. The jounin seems oblivious. Naruto pats Miso's neck soothingly.

The palomino knew what to do, whirling seamlessly as they got within range and the enemy ninja leapt from the puddle. Naruto winced, ribs aching, as the horse kicked out hind hooves whirling. The golden hooves landed home with sickening, wet, thwumps and the crack of ribs.

Miso whirls again before they can recover and rears, Naruto being kept seated only by the horses limited chakra training, bringing it's front hooves down on their heads with a sound skin to smashing melons.

The entire encounter takes less than three minutes.

Naruto hums appreciatively even as Miso shies away from the corpses, trotting around to take of the rear of the formation as everyone explodes into motion.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun?" He asks. The black haired boy steps closer to him and Naruto smiles grimly. "Can you help me down, I think I should see to Miso"

The young Uchiha abliges, carefully steadying his frailer teammate. Naruto runs a hand down the horses flank, checking for injuries. He pulls a handkerchief from his pockets and does his best to wipe down the horse.

This was shaping into being a long trip.

Chapter Text

Miso trots forward, ears alert, as the group moves through the forest. They should've reaching the coast soon and that sends a thread of longing tugging at Naruto's heart. To see Uzushio's coast.... Some things are genetic, he supposes.

Miso jerks, rearing backwards before bucking, chakra hold on Naruto seeming to reverse it's polarity as the Palomino sends him hurling away. Naruto is pulling on his chakra to right himself in an attempt to avoid broken bones as Miso twists to stand between him and the trees-

And blood. 

The palomino hits the dirt with a wet thwump, guts spilling out as the blade that would have taken Naruto's head off if Miso had been a half second slower cuts the elderly horse clean in half.

Naruto stumbles forward, ignoring his teammates as they scramble, to press one hand to Miso's chest, pressing his forehead to the Palomino's. It's too late, Miso is dead, and he swallows back tears.

"Thank you," he whispers, shoulders shaking, "for keeping me safe. For serving my mother and I"

The rage builds and explodes, roaring out of him in a billowing cloak of red chakra. Naruto can taste blood in his mouth as he turns to face the attacker, red bleeding into blue eyes.

One second. Two. The missing nin has already bolted. Naruto waits three more seconds before he's bottling his rage and hatred once more and shoving it down deep inside of himself.

His nose is bleeding. His lungs feel tight and also heavy. He topples forward onto Miso's corpse as his lungs continue to fill with blood, vision blurry, as his Uzumaki longevity and vitality rushes to heal the worst of it.

He sobs, and then coughs, choking on his own blood and tears. Everything goes black.

Chapter Text

Sasuke is scouting through wave when he stumbled across the poaching ships. Naruto is still unconscious. They can not move him from Tanzuna's home without harming his already delicate health, so they're stuck in wave until he recovers and they figure out how to transport him back.

He almost ignores the ships- he likes animals well enough but they're low on his lift if priorities compared to the people of wave and his team- when he sees them trying to recapture a horse. It's coat is a glossy and shimmering metallic color akin to a kunai and the color of a stormy sea and it has unusually long legs. 

Sasuke pauses. The horse is young, he can tell that at a glance, but he can feel the chakra. It reminds him of Naruto's ramen horse he inherited from his mother (and wasn't that just a kick in the teeth? ) only with far more dense chakra.

He eyes the situation carefully. None of the thugs seem to have any Shinobi training and they'll need another horse to get Naruto back to Kohona at some point. 

He pulls out a kunai and leaps into the fray. Kakashi will give him hell about it later, Sasuke is sure, but he doesn't particularly care what the bloodline thief thinks.

He likes Naruto better, anyway, and sage knows the sickly blond needs someone to look after him. The village won't do it so Sasuke will preserve his dead clans honor and pride and do it. Uchiha look after those in need and protect the weak. It's the entire point behind the village and why they ran the police before the massacre.