Kusari no Naruto

Eleventh Link

Naruto snarled something unintelligible as his alarm clock blared noisily in his ear, shocking him out of sleep. He rolled over to slam his hand down on it only to find he was a little closer to the edge of the bed than he remembered. With a muted grunt he hit the floor face-first, glaring down at the carpet and attempting to burn a hole down to the floor below with his gaze alone. When he finally finished swearing a vendetta against alarms, carpets, beds and mornings in general, he slid to his feet and stumbled into his kitchenette.

A meal, a splash of water to the face and half a change of clothes later Naruto began his morning exercise routine which consisted of mainly pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups and a bit of training with his chains. He could only do speed training outside; the last time he had tried doing it in his room by running up the walls and ceiling he had woken up the entire apartment block. It was rather unpleasant to have the equivalent of an entire ANBU battalion staring angrily at him outside his door, not an experience he wanted to repeat.

One shower and the rest of that change of clothes later and he was outside, hopping along the rooftops as the sun rose slowly on the horizon. It had become habit over the last six years of his life to rise at the crack of dawn, a habit he wouldn't soon be breaking. Plus it meant he could move through the village without having to deal with people; even merchants weren't crazy enough to get up this early. He might have to deal with the occasional ANBU patrol but they generally left him be. He found both amusement in that, and appreciated it, even if the appreciation went unvoiced.

All of this had been somewhat of a routine after the Jounin exams almost two months ago. Get up, work out, shower, get dressed, go to the mission office, take a mission, come back, shower, get undressed, work out, go to bed, repeat. Non-stop he had been doing this, barely resting between missions. The Hokage had been at first pleased with his work ethic, taking it as a sign the ANBU had trained him well, which was true. However, when this continued past the first month he began to recommend Naruto slow down. Luckily, there was nothing limiting the number of missions a Jounin could take, so technically the Hokage couldn't stop him except by making it an order.

If he was honest with himself Naruto wasn't sure why he was pushing himself so hard, although it served as excellent training. It certainly wasn't out of any obligation to the village; as far as he was concerned it could burn while he was out on a mission and he would barely bat an eye. No, short of being ordered to as he had been trained, or his squadmates being in immediate danger, Naruto had very little compunction to protect his village. Some might have found this behaviour and attitude worrying, especially from the village's Jinchuuriki, and they would likely be right. It still didn't make Naruto care all that much.

There was also the fact that it kept him out of the village… namely away from a certain purple haired Tokubetsu Jounin. Anko had, for some reason that seemed beyond Naruto's ability to comprehend, made a habit of tracking him down while he was in the village and pestering him. A few weeks ago Naruto had stopped holding back, actively attacking her if she came too close; however the woman was damn flexible and could often out-manoeuvre his chains. Her favourite place to take up residence seemed to be his shoulders, riding around with a happy grin like he was some strange, bi-pedal horse.

There were also the flashbacks; ever since the re-integration into the standard Shinobi corp Naruto had noticed a rise in Kushina's memories popping into his head. Nothing debilitating, or even that painful, but was irritating. People would give him funny looks when he suddenly bent over, hand clasped to his head in pain. It likely contributed quite a bit to the insane image most people had of him. Naruto attributed it to the fact that in Konoha there were just more triggers for the memories; places that Kushina knew or frequented, people she had known, certain phrases she had heard. It was aggravating.