Rise of the Senju

Chapter 18 ⭐️

-Team seven art above and I'm IN LOVEEEEE Haru's war outfit was done perfectly tysm !!-

--Naruto's memories--

Naruto and Haru hadn't always been as close as they once were. Many things had to fall in place for the two to even speak to each other as young children.

They knew of each other from school since they were small kids. Naruto recognized Haru as being the girl who always hung out with Sasuke.

Haru on the other hand recognized Naruto as the boy with pretty blue eyes, but her thoughts on him didn't go much further than that, her time and energy was always so invested in Sasuke she didn't really care much for making other friends.

However, the Uchiha massacre changed everything.

With nowhere to go because of the tragic event and the orphanage she once belonged to being dismantled by Itachi himself, the hokage decided to place Haru in one of the government officiated apartments where she could live on her own....right next to Naruto.

The blonde jinchuriki remembers the first time he ever spoke to her officially. It was after school, and Haru hadn't attended class that day because the hokage had called her out of the academy.

It was to show her where she'd live from that day forward.

Naruto was walking home from school feeling rather grumpy himself since he had gotten in an altercation with Sasuke, and this time there was no Haru to distract Sasuke and let him back down, so the argument became heated rather quickly and Iruka sensei had to break it up!

Lost in thought, he almost missed the sight of Haru sitting in front of the door right next to his own once he reached his apartment complex...almost.

Naruto couldn't tell if tears were streaming down her face or not because of the way she was hiding her face between her knees, curled up against the doorway as if she were hiding from the world.

However, by the slight shaking of her shoulders, Naruto was able to get the gist, she had to be crying!

Naruto didn't know whether to approach her or not, would she scream at him for talking to her?

He knew many people didn't like him, what's to say that she wasn't one of those people? She is Sasuke's friend after all, and Sasuke does not like Naruto very much.

Plus, he's overheard girls at the academy talk poorly of Haru, calling her mean and saying she was stuck up. He had never interacted with her much out of the classroom setting, so who's he to say that they were wrong?!

Regardless of the facts, it wasn't in Naruto's nature to let someone wallow in sadness without trying to help, so he bravely approached her.

"Hi! Is...is everything okay?" He asks, readying himself for the probable screaming or physical attack he'd have to face.

However, nothing of the sort happened.

Instead, Haru remained seated with her head stuffed between her knees. "T-thanks for asking but I'm fine." Her voice was really meek, and he could now definitively tell that she had been crying just by how weak it sounded.

Naruto opens his eyes in slight surprise when he realizes that she wasn't being mean to him at all!

She then looks up at him and goes to wipe her tears with the backs of her hands, revealing her flushed cheeks from how long she had been sitting out there with tears streaming down her face.

"Sorry about that. You're Naruto right?" Haru asks, pushing herself off of the floor and standing up to face the blonde head on. She notices that she's a bit taller than him, not really caring too much about it.