Comeback Kid (Naruto & Celestial Grimoire | OC-SI)

As much as they might have liked to stick together, the reality was that all of Tobio's extant social relations were better at different things. So that meant fundamentally, they were being split up to try and handle a bunch of different things. Though in his eyes, it didn't feel like much work was ongoing around the village, or at least nothing that was all that tremendously mentally intensive. Or perhaps that was just the view of a genin, tasked with some rather singular jobs. There was still a somber mood cast over everything, as the funeral for the Third Hokage was meant to be settled sometime within the month.

Tobio didn't have a great deal of personal fondness for the man or the consequences that his decisions had led to, but he could acknowledge that there were a lot of people who did feel some type of way about his demise. So most of the clean-up was in service of at least making the place presentable enough for the funeral. After all, the death of a Kage was going to be a bit of a show regardless. You couldn't run it any other way, really, knowing the way things were set up. That, and there were some higher-level negotiations happening with Sunagakure to get them the hell out of the village, but that was again, over his head in terms of the complexity and authority involved.

It was altogether kind of a mess, especially since it didn't fail to occur to him because he was pretty sure Itachi was going to be in the Hidden Village pretty soon. That, and traumatize Sasuke all over again. It almost felt as if the world were trying to tell him something concerning that whole affair, seeing not long after he had the thought was right when he ran into Team Seven.

They seemed, well, more or less fine for the most part. Some injuries, yet that was pretty much the extent of what happened to them. And of course, they saw him too as Tobio lumbered around, picking up massive pieces of debris and rubble that probably should have required a team of people to do so.

Naturally, the first thing that Naruto told Tobio, upon seeing him, made the Oni entirely sure that the boy was okay. "You look funny now!"

"Naruto!" Sakura's hand slapping the back of his head was almost instinctive, and honestly it was a little tone deaf for him to say. Despite the fact that there was not a hint of malice in the boy's demeanor. The sight of it still made Tobio smile, as he tried to push down his amusement.

He gave a squawk of outrage at the strike, rubbing the back of his head as he stared over at Sakura. "What was that for?!"

"You can't just go up to someone and say they look funny, dumbass," Sasuke sighed, rubbing his temples, as if he'd been running on fumes.

Though considering how the team as a whole looked, that might not have been untrue. While they obviously didn't go through their canon events and conflict, the trio did go through some sort of scuffle, judging by the battle damage and general wear and tear on them. And probably a case of not getting enough sleep, judging by the bags under their eyes.

"It's fine," Tobio laughed, finally stopping himself from pushing back his own amusement and running a hand back through his hair. "I'm gonna just have to get used to people staring at my horns."

"When did that happen, anyway? Along with the…?" Sasuke gestured to his own forehead, where the Key of Kings had been stuck inside of Tobio's head.

"Clan bloodline stuff. It's classified." That was all he needed to say to really get someone off of his back, as a look of acknowledgement entered Sasuke's eyes at those words. Yet there was something else about the boy that Tobio could note, now that he was looking at him.

It was hard to quantify what felt different about Sasuke, too. His emotions hadn't been purified or fixed entirely; that much was evident from his Five Poisons Sense. A lot of the subsiding rage that was still lingering and present, justifiably so. If someone had murdered all of Tobio's loved ones in a single night, he probably wouldn't have been much better off. Yet there was something else beneath it, a firm layer of determination mixed with something more positive that was difficult to discern.

There was a lack of desperation inside of him, even with the Cursed Seal still present on his body. Whether that was because Orochimaru's death or sealing in the Shinigami did something to the rest of the seals, or if it was just a matter of how the boy was taking things in regard to his own strength.

Sasuke in the original story didn't really begin to spiral until he'd met his brother again and got hit with the eye-torture dimension. If that didn't happen, and there wasn't the promise of Orochimaru's power on the horizon, there might be a real chance to keep him from growing into such a power-hungry maniac. Or at least offer him more tangible paths to power in the village.

…Provided he did something about it, anyway. Could he bypass the entire fight if he kept an eye out for specific chakra signatures coming toward the village in the coming days?

"So what happened to you guys during the battle?" Sakura asked, looking genuinely curious. "We lost track of your team when the arena was attacked."

"We had to escort a VIP to Jiraiya and then just helped out with the search and rescue operations." As much as he'd like to crow about what he did to the giant snake, the people who needed to know about it already knew.

There was no Hokage around to technically okay it, but his Shadowfire had been slapped with an S-Rank don't talk about this kekkai genkai bullshit. At the very least, he was told by people who mattered to don't make it easier for the powers that be to figure out if it was a pure kekkai genkai or a hiden jutsu. Other Hidden Villages had a very nasty habit of sniping at Konoha's aces, and just about nobody wanted Tobio to join the ranks of dead ninja who had the potential to rise higher.

Least of all, Tobio himself. Not that he didn't doubt that his bounty would be rising after all of this.

"Sounds kind of boring," Naruto stated, and Tobio had to lock his muscles to keep himself from smirking.

"It could have been more exciting, yeah," the Oni agreed, trying not to grin, even as Sasuke and Sakura looked at their teammate like he was stupid for not piecing together who the most likely VIP was from Tobio's fight.

It was fine. Naruto was still twelve; he could afford to be a little bit goofy for a while longer.

Snorting, the horned boy crossed his arms and glanced between the trio of kids. "What about you guys? I imagine it wasn't any less exciting for your team, considering all the chaos."

"Kakashi-sensei had us originally helping evacuate people too, but that went kind of sideways…" Naruto nervously admitted, scratching his cheek sheepishly.

A scoff escaped Sasuke. "What the idiot isn't mentioning is that we ended up having to do a whole running fight against all these puppets, and-"

The story that was listed definitely didn't happen in the original fiction, but that was pretty par for the course. Considering what a tradition of ninja puppetry that Sunagakure possessed, the fact that there hadn't actually been that many in the invasion was a little weird. And now Tobio knew why, seeing as Naruto's team somehow had run into some massive invasion of the puppet corps…

And then even stranger, employed talk-no-jutsu to get them to stand down? God, that thing was an objective memetic hazard. Sasuke and Sakura looked just as done with the concept as he did, though, so at least Naruto's weird persuasiveness wasn't just getting to him.

"You guys have some insane luck," Tobio commented, shaking his head at their antics.

"More like misfortune," Sasuke grumbled.

Tobio paused before glancing over at Naruto. "I'm, uh. I'm sorry for your loss, too. I know you apparently were like, close to the Hokage or something?"

For the briefest moment genuine loss shuddered across Naruto's features, exposing something far more vulnerable laid bare in front of them. It didn't last for very long, though, before his smile came back in earnest. "I-It's fine. Jiji wouldn't want me moping around, sad over him. Besides, I'm gonna help Jiraiya fulfill the last thing he wanted, more than anything else."

"Oh?"

"Tomorrow, I'm heading out on a super secret mission to bring back the next Hokage!"

Sakura sighed. "…You shouldn't be telling him about that."

"Huh? But it's Tobio! He wouldn't do anything bad with that information." Naruto blinked, genuinely dumbfounded at the prospect.

"You're right in that I wouldn't, but the preservation of infosec is pretty important," Tobio agreed with Sakura, readily enough. "Best of luck on your journey. I've gotta get all this out of the way."

The last loyal Uchiha eyed the chunk of concrete as big as his chest with some trepidation. "Aren't you even tired?"

"Not even a little." Tobio wasn't even sure if lactic acid build-up affected him in the same way anymore. "I could probably hold this all day."

With that, the team meandered off, leaving Tobio to at the very least figure out what he was going to do. Nothing like hard labor to at least let him try and focus on extending his sensory range, and keeping an eye out for anything awry.

If they showed up, and Itachi had more in mind than just checking on Sasuke…Tobio would be ready.

"A little," Hibachi admitted, sighing as he and Tobio looked over the remains of his garden. Whatever had hit it during the battle, whether that be an errant jutsu or some other form of damage, had not been kind to it.

All of the plants that he'd been cultivating were wiped out, evidently with no survivors. The rest of his family home was a little better, if still battered with broken windows and one collapsed wall. Still, it was at least standing, which was better than what some families got from the Konoha Crush.

"I'll just have to replant it and make it better," he shrugged, even if he didn't seem as enthused for the work.

"Sorry about your garden," Tobio offered, as his friend waved off the concern.

"It's fine," Hibachi reassured him. "I'm from a long line of peasants and farmers. We're used to rebuilding from a lot less than this. Maybe I'll make some changes in the layout. It wasn't optimal in the original configuration."

Truly, Hibachi lost his real calling as a farmer to become a shinobi. A lot of it went over Tobio's head, though that was just because he'd never invested too much in gardening, past helping his friend sometimes. To which Tobio was already getting ready to help. "So what's first?"

"First, we clear out the rest of the damaged material. After that it'll probably have to lay fallow for a bit," he admitted. "I don't think any shops are gonna be open anytime soon for me to pick up some plants."

"Fair."

So it went. The two of them worked in relative silence, cleaning up the various odds and ends that had scattered across the garden and lawn in the battle. Debris, rocks, and some odd bits of trash were carried away. Then it was the matter of clearing out the dead plants before they had a nice, uniform patch of dirt.

All things considered, Tobio appreciated the quiet. Sometimes his mind was a little too loud for his liking, which was why he could enjoy losing himself in the monotony of a task like this.

"So what's next?"

"Next…" Hibachi trailed off, looking a little lost. "You want a soda? I think the fridge is still working."

"Sure."

Entering into the building, it hadn't been the first time that Tobio had been inside. It was the first time he'd gone inside and met Hibachi's father, though.

Daichi looked like what was functionally just a bigger version of Hibachi. Of average height, he had a leanness to his build that came from working with his hands for a living, but with a little gut that spoke to perhaps a love of drinking like many men his age. He was even wearing a hat, though less like Hibachi's beanie, and more like one Urahara's bucket hat, colored beige.

He looked tired, as if he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep lately, but was otherwise healthy. And his eyes lit up at the sight of Tobio. Partially in surprise, a little in fear judging by the emotions radiating from him, but he kept it from his features as he smiled at the boy's approach.

"Oh ho! This must be Tobio, huh?"

"Did the horns give me away?" Tobio snarked.

A low, rumbling chuckle escaped the man at that presumption as he raised a hand and tilted it from side to side. "A little. But Hibachi's talked about his best friend all the time at dinner."

Neither Hibachi nor Tobio could stand to look at each other as their faces burned. For boys aged twelve and thirteen, respectively, there was an almost unspoken agreement to not turn to face each other, lest they spontaneously combust from pure awkward shame on the spot. Something Daichi noticed and laughed about again.

"Ha! Sorry, sorry, I so rarely get to see my cool-as-a-cucumber son taken aback, so I've got to get my jollies while I can."

"It's not cool to embarrass me in front of my friends, Dad..."

A scoff escaped him. "Embarrass? Kiddo, I haven't even told him any funny stories about you yet or shown your baby pictures off." Daichi fixed me with a crooked grin. "You wanna see? I've got a few if you wanna share with that girl of yours on your team."

In an instant, Hibachi reddened, his face going angry while his father laughed. "DAD!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

Not for the first time, there was a painful ache in Tobio's chest as he watched the interaction taking place in front of him. Maybe on some level he'd like to fill his heart with violence, and he'd cherish the connections that he'd made with his friends. It wasn't the same as a parent's love, though. That was deep, unabiding, and unconditional, in a way that made him profoundly lonely.

All the worse when he could see Daichi's affections and see the outpouring of positive emotions that swirled around the man when he watched his son. No matter what words came out of him, he was proud of the boy to an extent that almost made Tobio sickened by the sweetness of it.

"I'll leave you kids to your talk, last thing you want is an old fogey around like me." Turning back to Hibachi, he smiled his son's way. "Gonna be around for dinner later?"

"...Probably not," the kid admitted, wincing. "I've got a shift on the relief efforts to pick up."

"It's fine. They need a big brain like yours to be workin' on organizin' people, or helpin' those who didn't get as lucky as us."

"We lost a wall of the house, dad."

"We'll rebuild it," Daichi shrugged. "It's just a place at the end of the day. You and your brother are alive. I'm grateful enough to take my blessings as they come. I'll be sure to sort out some leftovers for you, for whenever you get home."

"Yeah, yeah…"

The two of them left Hibachi's dad behind them as they both grabbed sodas and moved up to Hibachi's bedroom. It was…

If Ami's bedroom were all posters and sewing supplies, Hibachi's represented him and his interests just as much. A small bookshelf, little radio sitting on the windowsill, and plenty of plants besides that gave the space a special kind of greenery. Compared to how Tobio's apartment was still relatively barren, save for food, weapons, and training supplies. Another reminder that he really needed to move to a better place.

Sipping on cola, there wasn't much to do but sit there awkwardly and talk about nothing of real substance with the time they had off. At least until the Oni of the two asked a more important question.

"...How are you handling everything with the whole, uh, invasion?"

"What, with us almost dying a bunch of times, fighting our way across the city, stuff like that?"

"Yeah."

"It was, uh," Hibachi wet his lips, glancing away as his fingers drummed on the bottle of soda. "You know I'm not like you and Ami, right?"

"How so?"

He seemed to be searching for the right words, and frankly, Tobio didn't have a reason to push him. Merely giving his friend the time to find how he wanted to formulate what he wanted to say.

"You guys are always so sure of what you wanted out of life, and sometimes it felt like I was being pulled along in your flow. Ami wants to be a big-time, badass kunoichi, like Tsunade of the Sannin. You want to make every other shinobi in your vicinity shit their pants at the thought of fighting you."

A little crass, but not inaccurate.

"Me, I'm someone who's just kind of meandering through it all. I had this vague notion that I was going to be someone who was smart enough to join the intel division. Get that cushy life, y'know?"

"What happened to that notion?"

With a sad little half-smile, Hibachi shrugged. "I dunno. It doesn't seem as appealing anymore. Not when I know that instead of sitting in an office, I could climb higher. Thing is, unlike you or Ami, I'm not really hungry in the same way you are."

Tobio nodded in agreement. "That's true, but I don't think it's a bad thing."

"It can be, when I might become a stone around your necks," he pointed out. "The only thing I'd want to be strong for, is for the strength to protect my family. Make sure you idiots aren't dying, when you inevitably bite off a little more like you can chew. Like in Takigakure."

"I survived that."

A scoff escaped the boy. "That wasn't a given thing. You didn't see yourself, swollen and turned colors I didn't think a human body could turn. It was ugly, in every sense of the word. I wanted to be strong enough to make sure you didn't have to sacrifice yourself like that again, and I'm not sure if that's enough of a reason for strength."

"Well…" How did he want to handle this conversation? It wasn't as if the fact that Hibachi just had an overall lower level of ambition or bloodlust hadn't been something he didn't see. It just hadn't been an issue that needed to be addressed yet. "Don't do it for me, or Ami, Tekuno-sensei, hell, even your family."

"If you want to be strong, you have to cleave past all those notions you've got of what victory might look like. You have to be strong for yourself, first and foremost, and desire that before you can start worrying about anyone else." Taking a longer swig of the soda, he absentmindedly wondered how it might taste if he mixed it with mead.

An experiment for later.

"Become stronger for myself, huh…" A thoughtful expression entered the boy's eyes at those words. "It can't be that easy, can it?"

"It isn't," Tobio admitted. "But it's a good enough start."

Everyone had to start somewhere, and for Hibachi, someone so cerebral and in their own head, it'd work for them. Or so Tobio liked to hope.

"...Anyway, this is kind of heavy. You wanna talk about something else?"

"Like?" Hibachi asked, snorting at the quick topic change, but allowing it all the same.

"Uh…" Shit, what did normal kids talk about? "I'm going to be trying to get into a new apartment soon."

That made his friend brighten up. "So you're not going to live like a straight-up bum anymore?"

Tobio gasped. "You asshole! I'm poor and an orphan!"

"You're frugal to the extent of insanity. The last time I swung by your apartment, I was shocked you lived like that."

"Kunai and shuriken are expensive."

A scoff came from Hibachi. "That's not even part of your combat style. Just try a better lie next time."

"Prick."

"Brokie."

Clicking his tongue, Tobio glanced away. "Whatever. I'll be asking you and the rest of the gang to help me move, probably."

A knowing look entered Hibachi's eyes. "I'm sure the girls will find their schedules open when you need some help."

Like anyone who tried to avoid seeing uncomfortable truths, Tobio shrugged. "They're just friendly like that."

"Ami? My brother, Ami is many things, but I don't think that anyone would really call her friendly as the first way they'd describe her," the boy shot back, looking a little chagrined. "Like, she's one of my best friends, don't get me wrong. And compared to how she was in the academy, how we all were, we've changed a lot. But she's still..."

"Intense?" Tobio offered.

"That's a word for it, sure," Hibachi agreed, nodding slowly. "Karin and Fū are nice, though. Fū a bit more than Karin, but I'm pretty sure that's just from her being a little unsure of herself."

"She's always been fine around me."

Not for the first time, Hibachi gave Tobio a long, piercing stare, and the oni boy had to do his best to school his features the longer it went on. "...Are we just pretending like, uh, none of them have crushes on you?"

"I'm trying not to think about it, yes," the bright-eyed boy admitted. "If I ignore it, maybe the crushes will go away."

"They won't."

"That may be true, but there's nothing good that can come of it by actually acknowledging or feeding into any of them," Tobio pointed out. "I'm not in any state in my life where I could properly handle those sorts of relationships in truth."

A sigh rolled out of Hibachi as he rolled his neck at the words. "Fair enough. I'd say don't count on them being passive forever, though."

He squinted over at his best male friend. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that they're people, with their own agency, and urges, and opinions of how things should be," the beanie-clad boy pointed out. "And a day might come when sitting and waiting might come to a head, or result in a situation you really don't want to happen. As long as you've made your peace with it, I dunno, I'm not gonna pry any further."

"Why thank you, magnanimous love guru Hibachi," Tobio snarked. "I appreciate the advice."

Weirdly enough, Tobio did appreciate it, no matter how uncomfortable the facts of the matter might have made him. He wasn't blind enough to be unaware of the fact that there were people who were interested in him with the kind of childish puppy love that was common at their age. It just didn't seem like a good time to acknowledge or do anything about it without the matter coming to some kind of heartbreak or heartache for everyone involved. Tobio could deal with kaiju-sized summons and fight nearly anyone in the Elemental Nations to a standstill. The vagaries of the human heart were something that he himself was still figuring out.

"I just don't want our team, and I'm including Karin and Fū in that, fracturing over something as silly as hurt feelings or who likes whom."

"Noted."

"..."

"...Should we talk about something less fraught with like, emotions and shit?"

Hibachi nodded. "Yeah. The girls aren't even here, and they're stressing me out. That's real talent."

A wry smirk came over Tobio's face. "I'll be sure to let them know you feel that way when I see them next."

"Oi."

The rest of the time hanging out bled into conversation that was ultimately meaningless in every sense of the world. Yet that didn't make it any less interesting, and Tobio noted that whatever weight had been on Hibachi's heart seemed to be easing as the minutes went by. He didn't know if his friend's worries about the future could be entirely eased, but he'd do his best effort to try. What were a few more burdens to put on his own shoulders at this point?