"
Hound felt that like a blow to the heart, how must it be for Naruto just now? Or the Third, even?
Naruto opened his mouth, closed it and looked dejectedly at the colouring book he had in front of him.
Hound looked at the Third. The Hokage looked tense, even disappointed.
Regretful, almost. No, no almost about it, he really-
"Come on, then," Masanari gestured weakly. "Show me so you can go home already and let me suffer in peace.
"
"… Well, fine then!" Naruto stomped over, looking away with all the fake bluster of a five-year-old orphan. "Here.
"
Masanari managed not to fumble the book. He pulled it up and opened it at a random page.
Then he blinked and looked at it. Flatly.
"… It's orange. "
Naruto rubbed the back of his head. Hound felt a pang.
He couldn't even tell if Naruto was smug or embarrassed.
"Kid, why is the turtle orange?"
The what?
"What's wrong with orange?"
"What's wrong is it's wrong, you brat, Isobu's red and grey. "
Who?
"Yeah, well… Orange is better!"
"Of course you'd say that, you-" page flip. "Gyuuki too? Don't tell me-" flip, flip, more flips, then Masanari groaned.
"All of them are-kid, why are you doing this to me? Is my hard work a joke to you?"
"Of course not! It's not, mister, I promise, I did my best you know!"
"After I went through all the trouble of-oh, what's even the use?" The man visibly gave Naruto up as a bad job, only to page to the very end of the book and become, if it was possible, the most aghast yet. "Kid, how the heck did you choose something other than orange for the only tailed beast that's actually orange?"
The what?
Naruto blinked, then frowned childishly. "What do you mean?"
"This, kid, this. " The man turned the book around to show the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox as a baby, what the hell- "Kurama's supposed to be orange, not white.
"
"Bullcrap! He can't be orange, bunnies are white, everyone knows that!" Declared Naruto Uzumaki with all the absolutely wrong conviction of children everywhere-wait, what did he just call- "Wait, that's Kurama?"
"Kid, I literally told you this and everything else, weren't you listening? The story, you know? The one you demanded like an entitled brat? On the walk home when I spoonfed everything to you like a little baby?"
"I'm not a baby!" Naruto erupted in outrage. "And you talked a whole bunch, who's gonna remember all that boring stuff? I just asked about the curse, not-hey wait, I'm not an etin-eli-etil- whatever you just said!" Naruto fumed.
Then fumbled it. "… His name's Kurama?"
Masanari dropped the book on the sheets and draped an arm over his eyes. "I'm surrounded by morons.
"
"Hey! Now you're just being mean again, I didn't do anything this time!"
"You didn't do anything right, that's for sure. " Hound's hands actually twitched with a very unfriendly impulse, did the man have to be so unkind? "No that's not entirely fair.
" The man picked the book back up and held it open one-handed. "Okay, I guess you did fine enough to stay within the outlines, and you even tried a bit of shading here and there, that's not entirely horrifying to look at.
"
"Well gee, mister, thanks. "
"Hey kid. "
"What?"
"You can't read, can you?"
Naruto opened his mouth, closed it and turned around in shame, hands clasped together behind his bowed head.
On the outside of the one-way mirror, Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen had gone suddenly still.
Hound had too. Being able to read was a prerequisite for literally everything in Konoha, and being able to read by age 5 was mandatory to enrol in the Academy, how could Naruto not.
. .
?
"…I see. "
"I'm not stupid!" Naruto blurted, spinning around and sounding… not angry or even loud, more… desperate, almost. "I'm not! Missus Sujimi just said I can't learn to read like other kids, it's not the same thing!"
Missus Sujimi? Was that the matron of Naruto's orphanage?
"Is that so?" Masanari Hanzo sounded eerily calm all of a sudden. "Prove it.
"
"What?"
"Prove it. To me.
Right now. "
"How'm I supposed to do that? Should I bring her here or-?"
"Not that, kid. The other thing.
"
"What other-that I can't read?"
"That you can't learn. "
Naruto mouthed silently, helplessly. "Wha… How'm I supposed to do that?"
Masanari looked to the heavens for strength all over again.
Then, painfully, painstakingly, he managed to pull himself to sit up in his bed despite that it left him a grimacing, pale, sweaty mess by the end. The man didn't even try to speak, though, he just gestured to Naruto to…
Climb into the bed?
"Well, brat? I'm not gonna beg if that's what you're waiting for. "
"You don't-I'm not! Don't be like…" Naruto cut himself off, then, slowly, quietly asked "Is… is it really okay?"
"This once. Come on.
"
Naruto hesitated, then climbed into bed where he hesitated some more on the very edge – Hound was worried he might tumble off for a moment – before Masanari literally hauled him over by the scruff and put his arm around him so he couldn't run away. "This is 'I'.
"
Naruto didn't reply. He was frozen stiff with eyes wide.
"Kid, repeat after me. This is 'I'.
"
"T-th-this is 'I'"
"Just the letter is fine. Let's do another one, this is 'S'.
"
"S," Naruto squeaked.
"Good. Now this one is 'O'.
"
"O," Naruto mechanically repeated, still frozen stiff.
"B. "
"B. "
"U. "
"U. "
Masanari was sliding his fingertip over the paper now. "I-So-Bu.
"
"… I-So-Bu. "
"Isobu, the Three-Tailed Giant Turtle"
"I-So-Bu," Naruto sounded out a few more times. "Isobu.
" Suddenly, Naruto seemed to snap out of his state all at once and put his hand on the page. "Wait, so, so, this is 'I', that's what you said, right?"
"Yep, good job. "
Naruto didn't seem to be listening anymore though, instead turning one, two, three, four pages. "Like here? This is I too, right?"
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