How to Survive a Naruto Reincarnation

Step 39: Who knows what happens

"...fine. You can call me Denial." 

"Excellent, glad we could reach a conclusion," I beamed. 

Sai the Denial only glared at me behind his mask. But the other kids were undeterred. 

"Nice to meet you, Denial!" Naruto exclaimed. 

"Likewise," Shino tacked on. "We are excited for you and your brother to join our crusade of revolution." 

"Hmph." 

"N-nice t-to meet y-you both-th!"

"...Right." 

*****

"So we have a money problem now." 

We watched as Sai the Denial shook the medicine bottle nervously before administering the medicine to his brother still conked out. 

"That was the last dose." Sai the Denial informed us. "We need more to treat him." He fussed with his brother, checking his temperature to see if it was a fever. "I don't know how long he can go without it..."

"There's a few pharmacies in town! But we need money first." Sakura unfolded her crude map.

"Then Hinata, Sasuke, Sakura, and I will search for something to do in town," Shino said. "We are no strangers to odd tasks and errands. We should be able to make some money while gathering information." 

"Then we'll keep an eye on the camp," Sai the Denial finished. 

"Right. Everybody rest." 

"But I'm booored..." 

"Yeah, me too buddy, me too." 

****

"Seriously though, why do you even respect Danzo?" 

"Lord Danzo saved me and my brother," Sai the Denial responded curtly. "No one else took us in." 

"Being lonely sucks," Naruto suddenly said. "It's really bad." 

At Sai the Denial's confused head tilt, I explained, "Naruto here was abandoned by literally everyone."

"Oh. It's because you're the host of the..." He trailed off.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked. "The what now?" 

I rolled my eyes. "But that's not even a reasonable excuse to abandon a baby. Like come on now!" 

"I'm not a baby!" 

"But he's a host! There's no telling what could happen! It could be dangerous to be in such close proximity." 

"What are you guys talkin' about...?" 

Meanwhile, I gave Sai the Denial an unimpressed stare. 

"Oh yeah, being close is dangerous. So logically, living in an apartment with neighbors sounds like a great idea! And the apartment will be close enough to terrorize the rest of society."

"...That's just to keep an eye on him! Plus, it's sealed so that minimizes the risks. Besides, that apartment is located a little ways off."

"Ohhh, and everybody living in that apartment doesn't deserve the same 'safe' distance as the rest of Konoha."

"You're missing the point!" 

"Am I?" I challenged. "Whoever in charge took a 'dangerous' situation, puts it in the middle of the village, and then slaps on bandaid seal and 'hope it doesn't go wrong!'" 

"All I'm saying is there are reasons why people avoid him!" 

"And all I'm saying is--!"

"I'm...dangerous?" The quiet question interrupted our argument. 

Naruto looked absolutely confused and heartbroken. 

*****

NOOO!

"Nonononononono! Come here. You're okay, you're okay. You're gonna be fine." I immediately crawled over to Naruto and grabbed his shoulder. 

"...I'm dangerous." 

"No, listen. You're not dangerous. You have something super unusual and everybody's scared about that unusual thing. Okay?" 

Naruto nodded numbly. I sighed and only shuffled him closer to me until we were sitting side by side, my arm slung over his shoulders. 

"You are fine. And you don't need to win over people who treat you badly. You're gonna meet and find people who are gonna be happy to spend time with you or work with you." 

Naruto turned his head onto my shoulder and sniffed. 

With one crisis averted, I turned back to Sai the Denial who had fallen silent. He sat staring at us unmoving and uncertain. 

"At the end of the day, we are people who need attention, care, and friendship. We are social creatures and we need other people."