CHAPTER 10: The Trade

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"Wake up, Ruto," Naruto groaned as sunlight spoked at the back of his eyelids, the heavy blanket onto him shifting- wait. The blonde all but bolted upright, startling Hiiro who stared, shocked at the other. They connected eyes and Hiiro burst out laughing, rolling off the blonde and banging his fist on the floorboards. Naruto's hand ran through his hair as he realized that's what Hiiro was laughing at. Pouting, he halfheartedly glared at the boy.

"Oh yea?" he launched himself at Hiiro, ruffling the other's hair as said boy let out a squeak of surprise before scolding the blonde. "Take that," he released Hiiro and a few chuckles escaped him at the sight of the now peacock like hair that Hiiro wore.

"God, you're so childish," Naruto stuck his tongue out. Hiiro thought for a second before nervously looking at Naruto, "Hey, about the brother you're trying to find." Naruto's attention snapped into focus as the smile dropped from his face. 'There is bound to be some information we can gather here. The Red Light District is a spider's web of information but getting it is gonna cost more than money," Naruto pondered over Hiiro's words. "I can't afford to get the info and sustain our lifestyle at the same time but I'm not letting you go out on your own," Hiiro paused, " so why don't we do deliveries together?" Hiiro looked nervous at the blonde, a light red hue spread across his cheeks at his own suggestion.

"That sounds great! Thank you so much Hiiro!" Naruto joyously yelled and tackled the black haired boy in response, holding him tightly as a spark of hope ignited in his chest.

The thought of finally finding out about the older blonde that lingered in his dreams lit a spark in him and filled a small hole he didn't know was empty. The two chatted quietly, eating some of the nonperishable foods that Naruto had brought with him the previous night and discussing the day's upcoming events. At the mention of plans Naruto flinched and remembered one very important detail. The test that Kakashi had told them to meet at training ground seven for. The meeting that was meant to happen two hours ago.

"Oh shit!" Naruto leapt to his feet and Hiiro chuckled at him, the blonde being late for a team event for a second time in a row now. "I'll see you tonight!" The blonde's words were rushed as he slipped his sandals on and waved at the boy by the blanket pile.

"Good luck, Ruto-chan~" Naruto blushed slightly and hurried out the door, bolting towards the training ground with his headband tucked securely in his pocket. Hiiro's warning of hiding his shinobi status while in the district had stuck with him. A few people of the district had begun to recognise the blonde as he traveled the same path each time he went to visit Hiiro and waved towards him. He grinned at them, waving back eagerly at the few and continued on his way. The people here were different, to him at least. They were either uncaring of or unaware of his identity and their opinions of him were as unbiased as they could get. To Naruto, that meant that his interactions were genuine, something the 'normal' parts of the village lacked. Here, he was Ruto, there he was Hokage's son.

"You're late!" Sakura scolded him. The ice between them broke as soon as the shopping trip had begun and the blonde's image of the pinkette had begun to take a positive turn. She was easy to talk to, easy in the sense that she seemed to never run out of a topic to discuss. A flash of recognition glinted in her green eyes and Naruto braced himself for whatever was going to come next. "Did you stay up late with your boyfriend?" the question caught him off guard as Sakura giggled at his beat-red face.

"W-wha-!" he spluttered a few incoherent words before clearing his throat, "he's not my boyfriend!"

"Yet." he turned to glare at a certain Uchiha who fist-bumped the young kunoichi. He rolled his eyes at them and was about to reply when a sudden puff of smoke clouded their vision.

"You're late!" Kakashi rubbed his head sheepishly, giving the genin a close-eyed smile.

"Well you see, there was an old lady and I had to help her cross the street," the excuse was lousy. Helping an old lady across the street, for two hours? Naruto was about to bring the rebuttal up but Kakashi beat him to it, placing a timer on one of the wooden training logs in the clearing and holding up two bells. "You guys will have until noon to take these bells from me, whoever doesn't get one will be going back to the academy," he explained, attaching the pieces of silver onto a hoop on his belt.

"But Kakashi-sensei, there are only two bells."

"Exactly, one of you WILL be going back to the academy." Sakura tensed at this but the other two knew better. "Now I expect you to come at me with the intent to kill, my cute little genin," He gave them yet another close eyed smile and without warning three kunai were sent flying towards him. He deflected them quickly with his own, taking note of the tree blurs darting into the tree line. The tree huddled close Naruto slapping a seal onto all three of them to hide their chakra signatures, courtesy of his seal master parents.

"Alright, we need a plan if we're gonna take Kakashi down." It was Naruto who spoke up, his voice a hushed whisper.

"We're working together? But there are only two bells," The two were patient and explained the goal of the exercise to Sakura who internally slapped herself for not realising sooner. As they began to brainstorm ideas Sakura took a moment to take everything in, the situation hitting her. She was in a team with the boy she wanted to marry. She had a potential bestfriend in her team, if the bonding they had done the previous day was anything to go by, and lastly. She was weak. She was weak and she hated it. Sakura stayed silent as the others came up with numerous strategies, not able to think of anything better than what they were already suggesting.

"Sakura, are you okay?" it was Sasuke. She forced down the blush that threatened to arise and met his eyes with her own, a fire burning in her green orbs.

"Never been better, now tell me the plan and let's take down Kakashi-sensei."

The plan had gone horribly wrong, of course. They were no match for the jounin and ex-ANBU, it was inevitable yet Kakashi was proud of them. He was watching as they brainstormed ideas, as they discussed their strengths and weaknesses and accounted for everyone. Sakura's development was pleasing and it really did seem that this was finally the right team.

"You pass!" newly formed team seven grinned at each other, a small bond was almost visible, small but still there. "Meet at the mission center at seven for our first mission tomorrow!" and with that, Kakashi puffed away into a cloud of smoke, much like the previous day.

"Why don't we go celebrate together? Get some food or something?" Naruto suggested eagerly wanting to hang out with his new team. Sasuke looked at him apologetically.

"Sorry, Naruto," he started, "my father will probably want to know the result of the test immediately and Itachi will be home from a mission soon-"

"It's fine," Naruto stopped the raven haired boy from rambling, "Itachi doesn't come home regularly, you should go and spend time with him while you still can." Sasuke met his eyes and let out a small smile.

"Thanks, Naruto. I'll see you guys tomorrow then," the Uchiha waved to his teammates and set off towards the Uchiha compound. Naruto turned to Sakura who gave him the same look as Sasuke.

"I already promised to hang out with Ino after she was done with her sensei, I'm sorry," Naruto shook his head at her apology.

"Nah, it's cool. I should head home and tell my parents the news as well anyway," Naruto gave some lousy excuse to relieve the girl's slight guilt. He really didn't want to go home, he would actually rather be anywhere but there, yet it seemed he didn't really have a choice. The two went their separate ways and Naruto slowly opened the door to the large house. There was no sound coming from inside which was strange considering he almost always heard Kushina in the kitchen if she wasn't on a mission. It was one of her hobbies after all. He stretched his chakra out to sense whether someone might be in the study room or perhaps the training room but there was no one. The house was empty. Naruto sighed in relief and walked into the kitchen, a note catching his attention.

'Hey, Naruto.

I will be on a long mission for about three weeks with your father. A secret kage meeting~

We left plenty of money in your account and feel free to invite a few friends over if you get lonely!

I'm sorry to leave you just as you passed a turning point in your life but it was a really urgent meeting and it needed both me and your father.

You can go and talk to Kakashi if you have any problems and I'll see you soon, my son.

Love, Mum and Dad.'

The was a messily drawn love heart at the bottom of the page. Naruto didn't know how to respond. On one hand he was thankful that he didn't have to deal with their late night arguments yet on the other hand, he hated the silence of the empty house. He thought for a moment, perhaps Hiiro wouldn't mind some company.

It had only been a few hours but the blonde found himself already missing the other's company. He sealed away a few sets of clothes and grabbed his blankets and pillows, stuffing them into the scroll as well before exiting the house and locking the door. The walk was short and the old house that the three stayed in was empty when he arrived. Of course, Hiiro would be at work right now and the two younger kids... now that he thought about it. He had no idea what they did. The door was unlocked and he let himself in, noting the packaging and wrappers of their breakfast this morning was still laying on the floor of the sleeping area. He thought for a second before releasing. He had only ever been to the sleeping room and seen the kitchen and bathroom but there were more rooms in the house. Hiiro surely wouldn't mind if he looked through would he?

He sat his semi large scroll down, propping it up against the kitchen counter and walking through the small house. It was only one story, with the front door, hidden in the slight alley way, opening up to the kitchen, which was small, perhaps half the size of Naruto's bedroom, and sleeping room, probably the living room at one point. Opposite to the front door was the door to a bathroom. He turned around the kitchen and there was one bedroom and a closet. Overall the house was tiny and Naruto supposed he really had seen it all then.

The blonde took it upon himself to tidy the place up, depositing the trash around the area into the dusty, unused waste bin by the kitchen counter. There were a few old cleaning supplies in the cupboard under the sink.

"Plot armor," Naruto muttered under his breath before getting back to work. Time seemed to fly by and before Naruto released, the door handle had begun to turn and in walked a surprised Hiiro.

"Ruto?" the blonde who had been humming a song while wiping the kitchen counter jumped in surprise.

"Oh, uh hi?" Hiiro's eyes roamed the small house in wonder. "Uh, I was hoping I could stay for a little so I cleaned the place up to try and earn my keep."

"Dude, you could have just stayed without doing all of this, we would have been fine with it y'know?" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "But thanks." Hiiro smiled at the blonde warmly, "and I spoke to Madam Aiya," he reached his hand into the pouch by his waist.

"The old woman from before?" Hiiro nodded his head, pulling out the black half face fox mask Naruto had worn before, handing it to him.

"She agreed to let us search the archives if we do some deliveries for her," the black haired boy pulled out his own mask, the white fox that contrasted Naruto's, "we'll be able to find something in there." Naruto hugged the boy who returned it without a second thought. The two remained like that bore a minute before-

"Oomf!" the two jolted as the younger kids, Yuka and Yuta, slammed into them, the breath leaving Naruto as three bodies piled on top of him.

"Dogpile!" the two were in sync as they cried out in laughter. The two older boys soon joined them. Hiiro got up, pulling the two with him and extended a hand to Naruto, who gratefully accepted.

"Alright you two, Ruto-nii and I are gonna go do some deliveries then come back a bit late, okay" Hiiro fastened his fox mask onto his face, giving it a light tug to make sure that it stayed in place before taking the blonde's out of his hands and doing up for him, much like last time.

"Ruto-nii is coming back here?" Yuka questioned, he was the shorter of the two boys.

"Is he gonna stay here now?" Yuta followed up, not giving Hiiro the chance to answer.

"For a bit, yeah. Now you two gotta be good," Hiiro gave them a serious stare through the mask before petting their heads and pulling Naruto out the door.