Chapter 5: Traumatic Stress

Naruto glanced as his two teammates, or rather, his one Uchiha teammate, struggle with the tree walking exercise with a glint of satisfaction in his eyes, each time the Uchiha fell he had to restrain a smirk to appear on his lips. 

He had already gotten the tree-walking exercise down after a bit of difficulty at first, but he just used the tips Sakura had given him a lifetime ago. A literal lifetime, if you count the life of his own one that had been cut short. 

Sakura was walking up and down the tree with relative ease, Naruto noted, though she was clearly struggling to keep going, her stamina low as well as her already naturally small chakra reserves. 

Obito, who had needed to rest since his fight with Zabuza, was reading a pervy book that reminded Naruto of Kakashi once again, leaning against the tree with a small blush spread across his face, his stupid, unscarred face. 

Sayuri had just fallen again and the snap of Obito's book earned everyone's attention. He stood up, stretching as he put his hands on his hips. "Alright, that's enough training for today. Let's head to the bridge and meet Tazuna, he should already have gotten started on the construction. 

The team nodded as they walked towards the bridge on the other side of the town, traveling straight through the slightly dead town, a dead mist looming in the air as people sat with their backs against rotting wood, a depressed look in their eyes. 

"It's horrible." Sakura whispered mostly to herself, but Naruto managed to pick it up.

"That's life," He responded, his eyes ignoring most of the citizens of Wave, having no pity to spare the residents. He could only change their life and that was by defeating Zabuza and Haku and then getting rid of Gato, permanently. 

"I kinda of have to pee," Obito admitted out loud, getting two grossed out looks from Sakura and Sayuri, who both glared at their sensei while getting an eye role from Naruto. "Wait for me here," And with that, he disappeared to take care of his business. 

"Gross, he shouldn't talk about that stuff out loud, especially in front of two ladies." Sakura muttered, earning a small snort from Naruto. She rose an eyebrow, brandishing her fist as her eyes seemingly glowed. "Did I say something funny, Naruto?" Naruto held up his hands in surrender. 

"No, it's just that, you're not even a teenager yet. How can you say ladies? Especially Sayuri, she acts more like a dude than a girl." 

"I didn't know you were suicidal." Sayuri growled, brandishing a kunai. 

"None of you did." Naruto responded quickly without missing a beat, stopping the comedic exchange as Sakura's eyes widened while Sayuri's eyes narrowed. 

"What did you just say?" Sakura uttered in a terrified voice, shocked that the blonde-haired knucklehead would say such a thing without much thought. Naruto rose an eyebrow. 

"What? I was just joking, jeez you guys are so serious." 

"It's not cool to joke about stuff like that. . ." Sayuri whispered, looking away from the blonde. Naruto rolled his eyes. 

"It's 'cool' to joke about anything, hence why it's a joke. Whatever though," He said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Sakura was about to speak up before an old woman in a small, tattered down booth waved them down.

"Woohoo, children! C'mon over here!" The trio agreed and walked to the stall, greeting an old woman dressed in purple robes, a thin white sash over her forehead. "Allow me to read your fortune hm? I can read the past, present, and the future!" Sakura gave her a suspicious look.

"Oh yeah? And how can you do that? Magic?" The woman nodded, clapping her hands together. 

"Yes my dear, magic! How about this, if I read your future for free, and I'm able to give you a proper reading, your teammates have to do it too for 5 yen?" Sakura glanced back at her two teammates and shrugged. 

"Alright, what do you need my hand?" The old woman nodded and Sakura gave the woman her hand. The old woman's skinny and wrinkly palms grazed over Sakura's smooth, slightly pale hand, her fingertips sliding across Sakura's palm as her eyes closed. 

"Ah yes, you had quite a nice childhood. No boys in your life, so you were able to focus on something else more productive. You have a nice best friend, though she is a bit of a loud mouth. You have a nice family, though your parents annoy you sometimes. And you future," A small smile appeared on her old face. "You will fulfill all your goals and have a handsome husband." Sakura had a small blush on her face, but also a big smile. 

"That was actually pretty good," She admitted to her teammates. Sayuri sighed. 

"Okay, I'll go but-" She was stopped when Obito basically palmed her face and got in front of her, holding fifteen yen.

"I WANNA GO!" He said childishly. "This should pay for the rest of them, but me first!" The old woman laughed at Obito's antics, but took his hand. 

"Oh?" She got out. "A slightly lonely childhood, but you were always bright. You have a kind heart despite the loss of several of your comrades. You have a prosperous future, though struggle is also on your path, and without the right conviction, you will fall." Obito took his hand back, grinning sheepishly.

"Wow that was a lot darker than Sakura's!" He got out nervously. "Your turn Sayuri!" Sayuri was openly glaring at her sensei, a small red dot on her forehead where his palm had slapped her the hardest. 

"Fine." She growled as she marched forward, holding out her hand. "I want to hear something cool about my future too, but could you leave out commenting on the past?" The old woman took Sayuri's hand and a sigh escaped her lips, earning a small cringe from Sayuri.

"I'm so sorry," The old whispered in a slightly-choked up voice. "But as requested, I shall skip over the past. Your present is filled with content, though you strive for a goal that you believe will only be you at the finish line. Your future, ah, I see great struggle, almost an uphill battle for you. You will come to a crossroads and only one path leads to you being content." 

The old woman then pulled Sayuri closer and put her lips next to the Uchiha's ears. "I also know you have a crush on a boy from your village." She whispered just quietly enough for Sayuri to hear, who's eyes widened to impossible levels as she yanked her hand out of the old woman's, who let out a hefty, happy laughter as Sayuri's face was the color of a tomato. 

"Your turn Naruto," Sakura said, grinning ear to ear after witnessing Sayuri lose her cool. Naruto was reluctant, but sighed in resignation. 

He turned his hand over to the woman, who grasped it gently. "I'd like to request the same thing as Sayuri-" He was cut off as her hand squeezed his own impossibly tight, tighter than any old womans' grip should be. He looked at her face as he went pale. 

Streams of silent tears ran down the woman's wrinkly cheeks. "There's so much pain, so much pain and suffering. I don't, I don't even know how you can still act normal." Naruto tried pulling his hand out of the woman's but to no avail, her grip like iron. "You strive for an impossible goal, placing a burden so great upon your shoulders that your knees are breaking from the pressure, and your future. . ." 

Naruto paused, awaiting her to continue, but she didn't. More tears flowed from her eyes.

"I can't," She whispered, letting go of the boy's hand as he immediately took several steps back. "It's too painful." 

"Naruto?" Sakura asked in a concerned voice. 

"So much hate is in your life my boy, you, you are someone who has lost everything." She finished. Naruto clasped his hands over his ears as his eyes opened wide, but he was no longer in Wave, but rather, on the battlefield. 

"Give up Naruto!" Obito shouted, the Rinnegan in his left eye glowing a bright purple. "The pain will only get worse. Join me, help bring the real world back and get rid of this illusion we call life! You can be happy! You can have all of the friends you want! You could have all the love you ever craved!" Naruto was shaking, fighting his demons who yelled at him to accept the offer.

"Never!" Naruto shouted. "I'm not like you! I can never betray my comrades!" Obito narrowed his eyes at the glowing yellow blonde. 

"Then you are dooming them into eternal suffering." 

"No," Naruto shouted as he saw Obito looking at him with a concerned. "Stay back, I know what you did!" 

"Naruto? What's wrong? It's okay!" Obito cooed gently as he tried to grab the boy gently, only for Naruto jump back, kunai in his hand as his vision swayed. 

"Ten tails!" Naruto shouted randomly. "You revived the ten tails! You, you killed my parents! I was an orphan because of you, you!"  Naruto shouted, glaring at Obito. 

"What are you talking about?" Obito said. "Naruto, your parents were like my parents! All I had was my grandma, and then she passed away," Obito had a pang of sadness go throughout his body. "Your mother and father made sure I was okay and cheered me up. I always looked up to them and I think I called Minato-sensei dad once by accident, but he only chuckled while Kushina laughed harder than I've ever seen her laugh before. They were there for me when I lost my two best friends in this world." 

Naruto's eyes widened at that fact. Had they really cared for Obito so much? Who was he kidding, of course they did. They always were caring people, he could tell that much when he had met his mother in that brief moment and talked to his father while he was an Edo-Tensei. 

"When I was tasked with guarding Kushina while she was pregnant, I was so excited." Obito admitted as tears began gathering in his eyes. "It was like I was getting a baby brother." 

"Stop it," Naruto protested weakly. "I don't need to hear this," He whispered. 

"Yes you do. Naruto, I am so sorry for abandoning you when Minato and Kushina died. I was so depressed and I was still young, I couldn't take care of a baby! But I could've kept a closer eye on you, I could've been the bigger brother I should've been, but I wasn't." Obito got on his hands and knees, his forehead on the dirt. "Please forgive me." 

"It's fine," Naruto said as an overwhelming amount of emotions swirled through him. "Just, drop it, please." He whispered. Obito rose his head and a grin appeared on his face.

"Thank you." 

Sayuri watched the whole exchange with wide eyes, something she felt like she had been doing for awhile now whenever Obito and Naruto spoke. 

But that old woman, she hadn't cried when she had found out her family was murdered her older brother, but tears had ran down her face faster than a dam that had just been broken when she read Naruto's past. 

What could that blonde have been through? He had always seemed happy before the day they became a team, where was that boy who always that inspiring, stupid grin on his face? 

A small blush crossed her face at the thought of Naruto grinning ear to ear. 

On the other hand, how the hell did that old lady know she had a mild crush on the blonde?

And ending it here. Excited for the next chapter. Was it good? Bad? Tell me! 

Also yeah, Kinda shorter than the rest but too much to write for the next closing scene so I will be doing this and YOU WILL BE HAPPY WITH IT! 

Also, while I have you all here, I started streaming on twitch and I want to be able to stream a lot with a bunch of viewers so if you guys want you can follow me and watch me play a couple times! 

I play games like Minecraft, Ninja Storm 4: Road to Boruto, Modern Warfare, GTA5, and possibly some mobile games as well like Blazing or Dokkan! 

It would mean a lot to me. I'm actually about to start streaming after I upload this, gonna be playing some Minecraft survival mode! 

So yeah, join me at twitch.tv/jarodlikestowrite

Ye

Til next time my lil demons!