"And now it's even more different than I thought it was. It listens in on other people, feels their emotions, talks to me- your chakra isn't supposed to talk to you. Does your chakra talk to you?" he asks, the same mania that had been shivering beneath his skin when B first entered the bathroom creeping back up to the surface.
...
B shakes his head.
"No, it doesn't!" Naruto stalks away from the sink, pacing around the bathroom. "Chakra is just a mix of your physical and spiritual energies. You can't live without it, but it's not a living thing all by itself! It's just a part of you, like an organ. It can't read your thoughts. It can't answer questions.
"So why can mine? Why can't it do the simplest things, simple little shinobi things, but it can do all this bullshit!?" Naruto lashes out with a sandal-clad foot, hitting a stall door with a sound that is half thunder and half screaming tornado, tearing the door off its hinges in a burst of wind.
"I don't know! I don't know, and I don't know how to figure it out, and even if I did I don't have time to figure it out anymore. I've only been a shinobi for four months, but so much has already gone wrong-" He blinks rapidly, returning to sink long enough to slap another handful of water into his face before continuing.
"A friend of a friend- a teammate, got hurt on my very first mission, and she still hasn't recovered. They don't know if she ever will, and the thing that got her almost got Sakura, it might still get Sakura, and I don't have a fucking clue what to do about it. My other teammate, Sasuke, hates his dad, hates even being with his family, and it kills me to see him waste something like that. But I don't know his dad! I don't know how to fix this. I don't think he even wants to fix it.
"And now there's the chunin exams, and-" His teeth snap shut again, prompting him to snarl and kick another stall door off its hinges. "And I went through hell to get that tanto, god damn it, I can't afford to replace it. But I don't want to hurt Samui. I should, but I don't. And now there's this new thing, and it's- it's- there's not a word for how scary this new thing is to me. I just-"
B grabs the much smaller boy by the shoulders, stopping him firmly in place.
He's not all that small for his age, really, and might even have a bit more muscle on him than Omoi. But B is a big guy, even by shinobi standards. Naruto staggers beneath the weight of his hands, looking up at him with a startled sort of awareness, as if he's just now registered his presence in the bathroom.
"Listen up, leaf dog," B says sternly, daring the younger nin to go off on another hysterical tangent. "We're shinobi. Warriors. Cold-blooded killers. It ain't no thing to knock us down if we don't have pillars," B explains, his tone softening to something not unkindly. No one believed him when he said he could handle a genin team, but he knows his way around the teen drama block. The teen trauma block, too. And the teen insanity block, apparently.
B has a good sense of direction.
"Pillars?" Naruto asks.
B nods. "Supports. Things to help ya hold down the fort." He lifts one hand from the boy's shoulder to playfully rap him on the head. Well, playfully for B, anyway. Naruto winces, but doesn't comment. "Passions when your fuse burns short. People as your last resort. Shinobi life won't cut you slack. You need some fam to give you smack and take your burdens in their pack. This selfless complex breaks your back, my dude, trust me."
"He lets the kid go, leaning back and giving his reflection another fist bump for a mental breakdown well averted. Naruto frowns thoughtfully, first at B, then down at his hands.
"What are your pillars?" he asks.
B chuckles. "Hell of a question." The Konoha nin has the grace to look sheepish, but B waves him off while he lists them on his fingers, one at a time. "First thing is always a good rap session. Then kickin' with A and workin' out some aggression. Teaching the kids, ropin' 'em into my obsessions." He flashes the foreign genin a quick grin. "Foolin' little ninja with bad first impressions."
That gets a smile out of the younger shinobi. "Yeah, I got that." Naruto rubs the back of his neck, shivering a little in the underground chill. He takes a deep breath, holds it, and sighs. "Passions and people, huh? I guess I have a few of those."
"That's all you need," B assures him, and the boy's tentative smile widens.
"I think I understand. Thanks, Killer B-"
B holds up a hand, shaking his head. "The rap game's all that I kill, and maybe a ninja who fronts on my skill. You and I are chill, so call me like I am and don't mind the frills."
"Fair enough. Thanks, B."
"Whatever gets ya through your slump." B nods once, and then thrusts his arm out at the Konoha nin. Naruto jumps at the sudden motion, staring at B's clenched fist and steely expression. "Now stop actin' a chump, and come give B some motherfuckin' bump!"
Naruto laughs and raps his knuckles against B's.
"Alright," Naruto says, "I should probably head back to the genin box. I've already missed enough of the first round, I think."
"Lead the way." B moves out of the way, letting Naruto pass and following him into the hall. "Got some things to say to my boy, Omoi."
They stride purposefully down the straightaway, B secretly thankful for the guidance. He doesn't know how long it's been since Omoi won his match, but something tells him too long. He really should have gotten to him in the competitor tunnels like he did Samui.
Come to think of it. "Now that I've seen you bite," B muses, thinking back to Naruto's explosive first match, "Might be bright to talk to my girl, prep her for your fight."
"Your-" Naruto's eyes go wide, all dusky blues and violet shards. "You mean Samui's my next opponent?"
B skillfully holds back a wince. Poor Karui never gets any attention.
"She's the one," he confirms. "Better give it your all, 'cause this won't be fun."
"You've been teaching her how to use my tanto?" Naruto asks, but the bitterness from the first time the two of them met is gone. It could be the panic attack B just pulled him out of, but the Konoha nin seems more pensive at the news than anything else. "She's way better with it than I am, isn't she?"
B considers sparing his feelings.
Nah.
"She's better than I was at her age," he says, grinning at the blond's pained grimace. "She'll be setting the stage no matter how hard you rage. Gonna lock you up in real sharp cage." B leans in close, whispering conspiratorially, "But ay, least you can say she played with your short blade."
Naruto chokes on air. "W-wha-"
B laughs at the flustered genin, the noise echoing loudly in the catacombs, and after a second Naruto breaks into chuckles himself.
They reach a fork in the hall, and Naruto pauses, hands twitching again as the wind whispers in his ear. He shakes off his unease a moment later, eyes narrowing defiantly as he leads them down the left branch, and B allows himself a warm little grin behind the genin's back.
He's a good kid. Samui could do worse.
...
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