Never Again: A Naruto Fanfiction

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.