The Naruto concept is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. This story, and any original characters inside, are mine. Don’t take them. You know the drill.

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Reflection

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The steam rose up from the cup and Naruto watched it quietly. He thought it was interesting how the slightest change in pace, the minutest movement or exhale or inhale or anything could so drastically change the path that the steam took. It eddied and swirled, following invisible paths, pushed by invisible forces. Naruto closed his eyes, raised the cup, and sipped slowly.

“Ah…” he murmured to himself, secure in the warmth of the tea. He had been looking forward to this all day. Setting the mug back on the table, he began watching the steam rise again.

A door swished open across the room, and the steam disappeared. Carefully, Naruto raised his eyes as a brace of kunai flopped on the chair. Kutsu followed, except on the floor. Naruto’s view of his student was blocked by the table, but he could tell what the child was doing.

“I am too tired,” Kutsu stated, “to do anything. Even die.”

Naruto’s eyes narrowed. “You’re on the floor.” He stated, matter-of-fact.

A sigh originated from somewhere down there. “Indeed I am.”

Naruto blinked in exasperation. He took another sip from his tea, hoping to glean some sort of calming effect from the warmth and goodness. It almost worked. “Are you clean?” he asked, like it was the most natural thing in the world to be doing.

Another sigh, then some rustling. “Um….Well, I’m kinda sweaty. And I think I’m bleeding. And there’s probably some mud on me, but I’m too stiff to check very much. And –“

Naruto cut him off with a loud slurp. Slurping brought out the flavour in ramen, so maybe it would work with tea. “So you are, in fact, dirty.”

“Yeah.”

The cup slammed on the table with a sharp rap, echoing briefly through the small apartment. “Since you’re already down there, I hope you can tell me. Is the floor, by any chance, as dirty as you are?”

There was a brief pause. “Um…Hang on…ow…” While he waited, Naruto took more sips. “Yes.”

Naruto blinked. If he looked carefully, he could see the tea particles swirling around in the green tinted water. “Yes, what?”

“Yes, the floor is as dirty as I am.”

Tilting his head back, Naruto waited for the last drops of tea to slide into his mouth before he reached for the pot. “I see,” he stated. The boiling water splashed into the tea mug, looking like it was slightly melon flavoured, though it wasn’t. “Was it like that before you flopped down there?” Naruto’s voice was beginning to rise, betraying his irritation.

“Um…I really don’t know. The rest of it looks pretty clean, though…I’m guessing it wasn’t.”

Naruto’s eyebrow twitched, although Kutsu couldn’t see it. Tea wasn’t going to help relax Naruto now, he knew it. “The floor was clean because I washed it.”

“It looks good.”

“It did. It doesn’t anymore. Do you know why?”

“Um…because there’s a big dirty spot in the middle of it now?”

Naruto nodded. Kutsu couldn’t see that either, but the kid guessed it was happening. Naruto gave his mug a push, sliding it off the end of the table. A moment’s silence, then a sharp crack and a splash were almost, but not quite, drowned out by the shout of pain emanating from somewhere in the vicinity of the floor.

“I spent almost an hour getting this apartment nice and clean. Almost an hour. And then I sat down to a nice relaxing pot of tea because dammit, I deserve it after almost an hour of cleaning, and then you come in. And you make it dirty again.”

“oww….”

“And now, on top of the dirty floor, I’m out of tea.”

“I don’t really think you can blame that on me.” Kutsu protested plaintively, rubbing the bump on his forehead. “And it was hot, too. It hurt.”

Naruto stood up and stalked over to the sink. Retrieving a mostly clean dishrag from the counter, he flipped it over his shoulder and smiled on the inside when it flopped onto Kutsu’s face.

“Oh god, this smells nasty…” Kutsu sat up and pulled the rag off his face. “It’s like artificial lemon and alcohol mixed into one. What have you been doing with this?”

Naruto walked past him, barely deigning to acknowledge the boy’s presence. “It smells like cleaning solution. You’re going to use it to clean the floor.”

Kutsu gaped at him. “I can’t! I’m too tired, remember?” He flopped on the floor again to reinforce his point. Naruto slid open the door to the bathroom, then turned, looking at Kutsu with a critical eye.

“I wouldn’t flop on the floor like that if I were you,” he said. “It just make more dirty parts for you to scrub. And what you’re fighting is the pain barrier. Beat it to get stronger.”

Sullenly, Kutsu began scrubbing the floor. “And what are you going to do while I slave away?” he questioned. Naruto wagged a finger at him.

“I’m going to take a bath. Less talk, more scrub. Cleaning solution is under the sink. It’s the yellow bottle. Smells like artificial lemon and alcohol. I’d tell you to take a swig if you feel like you need it, but you’re too young and the stuff is rank, anyway.”

He ignored Kutsu’s incredulous gaze and stripped and showered, shivering slightly as the cool water washed over him. With a long exhale, he sank into the warm tub to the tips of his earlobes. If he concentrated, he could hear Kutsu cleaning….

“Oh man… this stuff smells nasty. How could you possibly drink this? Maybe if you hold your nose. That blocks out taste, doesn’t it?” A pause, then a spit. Naruto smiled to himself.

“I don’t hear any scrubbing out there,” he called.

“That’s because you’re old and deaf.” was the irate reply.

Naruto sank further in the tub, expelling air to raise his density. Warm water flowed around his hair, loosening it from his customary spikes. When he surfaced, a layer of yellow coated everything in his vision. He shook his head and sprayed water everybody, but managed to get the hair out of his eyes.

He leaned back, resting his head against the lip of the tub. Was this where his life was going? At thirteen, he’d been so positive that he would be Hokage by now. That goal seemed so far off, now.

He closed his eyes and began to reflect. Sure, he wasn’t the Hokage. At least, he wasn’t yet. He still had plans to change that. But right now, he had a more pressing engagement. He was the leader of a genin team. And let’s be honest, that’s no mean feat. And besides, it’s a requirement to being Hokage, in tradition if not in letter.

A knock sounded on the door. “I finished cleaning the floor, and I put that dirty rag in the washer. I want to take a bath when you’re done, so hurry up and finish whatever you’re doing in there.”

Naruto submerged, then surfaced again. “I’m almost done,” he called out. “Just give me a couple more minutes, then you can spend all the time you like in here.” Running a hand through his hair, he heaved himself out of the tub and snagged a towel from the rack.

As he wrapped it around his waist, he slid the door open and stepped out. Without a word, Kutsu darted in and shut the door loudly, locking it. Naruto laughed. “I have better people to peep on,” he said loudly.

“Go to hell.” Kutsu called back, his voice muffled by layers of cloth being pulled over his face.

Naruto smiled and put another pot of water on to boil. After he made the tea, he did some basic work while drinking to while away the time. He set his cup down after what seemed like not too long, and a yawn crept up on him. He blinked slowly, and yawned again.

“What time is it?” he mused softly, clearing away the tea supplies. As he put the cups in the dishwasher, he checked the clock on the wall. “11:42? No wonder I’m tired. Time for sleep, I guess.”

He shuffled lazily over to the bathroom, rapping on the door. “It’s time to come out, kid. Bedtime.” He waited for a response.

Nothing. He rapped on the door again.

Still nothing. What was going on?

Naruto walked over to the table, and picked up a kunai he had been sharpening. Sliding the blade between the door and the jamb, he gave it a sharp twist and popped the lock. The door opened slightly, and he stepped into the steamy bathroom. “Hey Kutsu, you okay?”

He peered into the tub and was torn between laughing and smiling. Kutsu had fallen asleep in the tub, sinking down almost, but not quite to the point where his nostrils were submerged underwater. Every time the kid exhaled, the air made little ripples in the water. Naruto shook him, and Kutsu’s head drooped on to his shoulder. No response.

Naruto paused, torn for a moment. The kid was obviously tired, was it really worth waking him just to tell him to go to sleep? Naruto thought of himself as lots of things, but needlessly cruel wasn’t one of them. Carefully, he picked the kid out of the tub and draped a towel around him, a minor gesture to preserve part of Kutsu’s dignity.

Patting Kutsu dry with one hand, Naruto carried the genin over to the guest room and gently deposited the child on his futon. Deep in sleep, Kutsu rearranged himself on the bed to get more comfortable, and Naruto smiled. Draping the blanket across the boy, Naruto stood up quietly and shuffled out of the room.

He leaned up against the hallway wall. “Night, kid” he whispered, half to himself and half to the sleeping form. He blinked and shook his head, then padded off towards his own room down the hall.

He still wanted to become the Hokage of Konoha, that had never changed and it probably never would. Right now, however, Naruto had a job that was even more important, and he planned to finish it before he moved onto anything else.

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Author’s note: To quote from the great Mark Twain: Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated. See, um…this little thing called life? It happened. I was writing fine up until I went to Rochester with my sister to help her settle into college life. Then my computer died, and I lost everything I had written of chapter nine. That was a bitch. And then school started. And with school came not only classes and homework, which I can deal with okay, but also cross country.

Turns out cross country sucks up my time like you wouldn’t believe. Like, I’m getting home at six every single day. And then I need to do my homework, eat dinner, all that stuff. It really didn’t leave any time for writing. And on the weekends, I just couldn’t summon up the will power.

However, cross country is almost over…I’ve got districts on Saturday, and a week of practice after that because I want to run with the guy who’s going to state. I’m weird like that. So call it two more weeks, then the season is over and I get home at a reasonable time each day.

Um…Other than that? Not much. I’ve gotten a couple reviews asking me to clarify what exactly the story is about, so I dashed this off to get me back in the writing mood, as well as to answer that question. If you’re not like me and want a textbook answer, here you go: “Last Step” is about the last step that Naruto needs to take before becoming Hokage, namely, leading a team of Genin. It will deal with things pertaining to that last step, both Naruto and the Genin. I’m trying to keep it mostly focused on Naruto, but the genin characters are important, so I’ll be spending some time developing them as well, in order to keep the story interesting and three dimensional. Part of the development of the genin is the development of their family. There are lots of minor things I’m referencing. Those will likely be explained in another story. Stop bugging me. Unless you were polite about it, in which case, if you have any further questions, please feel free to ask me.

Gemin, I hope college life is going well for you.

If any of you want to talk to me, my aim name is julka121. I’m always happy to talk to a reviewer. I’ll be online on a semi regular basis in about two weeks.

Sorry for the long delay! I’ll do my best to start writing on a regular basis again.