Naruto: Crimson Hair

Naruto's eyes widened and from beside him, Rai spit out a mouthful of tea.

"A missing-nin...?" Mayu repeated, growing pale.

...

Naruto didn't recognize the name, but by principle, all missing-nin were dangerous. Any ninja who could leave their village without being caught by their village's hunter-nin had to be at least jōnin-level.

Sakura jumped to her feet, looking upset. "Even Shirakumo-sensei got injured during the battle. But after all that, Tazuna-san went right back to the bridge to continue working on it. Another man quit today, but he still isn't giving up!"

"That's alright Sakura," said Tazuna, though he looked rather touched. "What Kaine is saying isn't wrong."

"...if you can realize that, then I have nothing else to say to you," said Kaine, white-faced. "Please leave."

At her words, Tazuna's form sagged, making him look even older than he had before. But without protest, he nodded. Leaving his tea still untouched, he reached for his straw hat, which he had hung neatly on a chair.

He paused before the door. "Thank you for your funding, Kaine. If this bridge is completed, this city...no, the entire country will be in debt to you." With a nod to Naruto and the others, he left. Shooting them a final pleading look, Sakura followed him.

Several minutes after the door had closed shut, Naruto got to his feet. Keeping his voice neutral, he said, "Well, we have to get going now. I apologize for your injury, but if you want to file any complaints about our work, you'll have to contact our village by post." Mayu and Rai jumped at his words.

Slowly shaking her head, Kaine reached into her pocket to pull out a handful of coins. "No, your work was satisfactory. This should cover your passage back to Konoha." She averted her gaze. "Thank you for escorting me here. I wouldn't have made it without you kids."

Rai hurried to drain the rest of his tea, and the rest rose to their feet. After a few murmured farewells, they left the apartment.

"Hey...Naruto," said Rai hesitantly, as the store's bell clanged behind them. He looked up at the building with a troubled expression. "Can we really just leave it like this?"

Naruto glanced back. "Our mission was to escort her to Wave country. There was nothing about staying here and helping her clean up her life."

"I guess you're right," said Rai, his face clearing up. "It's not like we could do much about it, anyways."

They began to walk away, but a few seconds later, Naruto stopped, realizing that Mayu hadn't moved. She was picking at the tail of her hair in the way she did when she was anxious about something, and her eyes seemed fixed on something. Following her gaze, he saw that she was staring straight at a small, hungry-looking girl begging for food on the other side of the street. Naruto suppressed a sigh.

"Mayu – " Rai started, but she suddenly put up a hand, silencing him.

"You heard what Sakura said," Mayu said quietly. "Their sensei – Shirakumo-sensei – is injured. That's probably why they're still here. Can we really just go without helping them? They're from Konoha too."

"So this isn't about the orphans at all," Rai said sarcastically, crossing his arms. "Or about Tazuna and that mess with Gatō."

Mayu turned pink. "So what if it is?"

"We're ninja, not philanthropists," Rai hissed. Sai drew in a sharp breath, and they all automatically turned toward him.

"Did you sense something?" Naruto asked, looking around. The feeling that he was being watched had returned, but there were too many people milling around for him to pinpoint the source.

Sai shrugged. "I was just taken aback that he knew such a big word...But you should probably stop talking so loudly about all this. We're drawing attention to ourselves."

Before Rai could retort something back, Naruto put a hand on his shoulder. "Sai's right about people watching. Calm down." He turned to Mayu and lowered his voice. "But Rai is right too. We're not philanthropists. Our mission's complete. We don't know anything about the situation besides what we've just heard from two biased sources, and there's little we can do about it. Involving ourselves would mean involving Konoha in a foreign territorial dispute, and the village would lose face with clients."

In truth, Naruto couldn't care less about the village's reputation, but he figured playing to Mayu's sense of loyalty would have more effect than the real reason why he wanted to leave.

There was the desire to quickly return to Konoha and rack up points for another successfully completed mission, but more than that – this seaside city made him uneasy. It could've been the way he kept feeling like he was being watched, or it could've been the dead look in everyone's eyes, but whatever the source was, Naruto had been itching to leave as soon as he'd set foot in the city.

It was a pity about Kaine, but Naruto had barely known her for a week, and did not feel the urge to lay down the lives of his teammates in exchange for her continued safety – a safety that, indeed, well exceeded the conditions of their mission. Because the truth of the matter was, his every nerve was screaming at him that it wasn't safe here. Every minute spent here only increased the chances of their being in irreversible danger, and to Naruto's chagrin, he didn't know if he was strong enough yet to protect the team.

He knew he had gotten stronger over the past year with his extensive tutelage under Kakashi, but he had yet to win any of their frequent bouts against each other. And if there was one thing he had learned over the past year on their missions together, it was that the world was large and crawling with unknown powerful enemies. There were many weak ninja, but there were just as many strong ninja.

And without the rules that he'd come to be familiar with in the village and the Academy; without the regulations and expectations that, no matter how vaguely, governed the chūnin exam; and without Kakashi acting as an ever-present reassuring shield – Naruto found himself questioning what he was and wasn't capable of, knowing that if he overestimated their abilities, there would be no return trip back to Konoha – outside of a coffin, if their enemies were so kind.

Is this what the pressure of being a team leader is?, he wondered.

"But Shirakumo-sensei – "

"Shirakumo-sensei is a jōnin, Mayu," said Rai, in a slightly calmer voice. "Sakura's team should be fine, so long as they don't stick their noses in anything more."

"Are we going to go or not?" said Sai, managing to look bored even as he smiled.

Mayu bowed her head, and with some relief, Naruto turned around. He raised a foot to step forward, when to his surprise, she said, "No."

"Uh...Mayu?" Rai asked uncertainly.

"You heard what she said. Toru...no, Kaine-san is still in danger. What kind of ninja are we, if we abandon her here?" She raised her head, and Naruto was stunned to find that her eyes were blazing. "I'm going to stay with Kaine-san...and I'm going to find Sakura's team and see what I can do to help."

"Mayu – " Rai began, but was cut off once more as Mayu held up a hand. She looked piercingly at them – Naruto suddenly realized that her eyes were hazel, not brown – and then when, against all expectations, she smiled, Rai actually took a step back.

"I'm sorry for being so selfish," she said. "But I've never been more grateful that I'm a ninja than I am right now."

Without another word, Mayu turned around and disappeared into the store; the bell sounded behind her like a death knell, and Naruto and Rai mutely stared at the closing door with, for once, identically astonished expressions on their faces.

"Did...did that just happen?" Rai finally let out weakly. "Where did that come from?"

"Is that what they call premenstrual syndrome?" Sai cocked his head, with what looked like a genuinely curious look fixed on his face.

"Naruto?" Rai turned to him with a pleading look, and for once, he found himself unable to think of what to say.

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