The Jinchuuriki Alliance || REWRITE ||

PERMAFROST: A BROTHER'S RAGE

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

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When Naruko finally arrived at Tazuna's house, escorted by none other than the Mizukage's own bodyguard himself, it was safe to say Tazuna's family was stunned silent for at least half an hour. By then, Sakura and Naruko had finished with the dinner preparations they had gently taken off Tsunami's hands while Sasuke led the woman to the couch to sit down. Inari, Tsunami's son who was about eight at most, stared open-mouthed at the Mist shinobi who started helping Naruko.

Team 7 themselves couldn't stop themselves from looking over at the two inconspicuously at times, still curious over what bond the kunoichi and legendary shinobi shared. The way they moved so fluidly around each other, as if they had been doing this for years, struck them as odd since they had never once seen Naruko interact with a shinobi outside of the Leaf.

Once dinner was set out on the table, Naruko exchanged a few words with the man and hugged him goodbye at the door, watching him leave. When everyone was already seated, Sasuke stood up to get Naruko, but the blonde was already on her way back.

She sat down between her teammates, picking up her chopsticks and bowl full of rice as if she hadn't just did something no one in the current household had ever dreamed of. "Itadakimasu," she murmured. The rest of the table echoed her sentiment, and started eating. After a few minutes of heavy silence, Naruko sighed and set down her chopsticks. "You want to know who that guy was, don't you."

"He was the Mizukage's bodyguard, right?" Sakura blurted out. "How do you know them?"

"He... his name is Utakata, and I suppose you could call him the Mizukage's bodyguard. I refer to him as Yagura's babysitter," Naruko rolled her eyes fondly as she picked up her chopsticks again and took a piece of salmon. "They're my brothers, from the family I once had." She took a sideways glance at Sasuke as she did so.

Sasuke blinked. So those were two of her "overprotective brothers" that she had spoken of the day he told her he was out to kill his own brother.

"The... family you once had?" Inari asked quietly, the first words he had said since Team 7 had arrived in his home.

Naruko nodded. "I had eight family members, but because of a threat, they split us up in order for us to stay alive. We're now scattered over the Five Great Nations. It's the first time since I've seen my brothers in two years. In fact, they're the first family members I've seen since that day. And who knows when, or if, I'll ever see any of them again."

"So... you know pain, too," Inari murmured.

"Everyone knows pain," Naruko told him, her sensitive hearing having picked up on what he said without a problem. "Ever since birth I've had a heavy burden upon me because of what I have been forced to become, and a majority of the world doesn't take kindly to it. Sasuke also lost his entire family when he was young, and Kaka-nii lost both his father and his team. At one point or another, everyone will learn pain. It's just a matter of what we do about it."

"What did you do?" Inari was facing Sasuke.

Sasuke glanced over at Naruko. "I... am not the best person to talk to about it. I didn't go about my pain the right way, until someone decided to slap some common sense into me."

Naruko hummed proudly as she chewed her food. "It was about time someone hit it into you anyway. Guess common sense isn't all that common, huh?"

"Hey!"