The Mother He Never Had

18

Haru's POV

It's been nearly a week since I've seen Naruto or Gaara. I hope both of them are doing okay. I sat on the couch as I read a book. It was a quiet for a moment until a rock was thrown through the window, startling me.

I hurried over to the window to see who had thrown the rock, then sighed as I saw kids quickly running away from the house. "A prank, huh?" I mumbled. I avoided the broken glass and walked over to the rock they threw through the window.

There was a piece of paper tied to the rock, so I undid the rope and looked at the paper as it read, "Devil Woman."

"Devil woman, huh? I see." I said to myself. All because I adopted Naruto? I looked back at the broken glass on the floor and sighed. "Well, this mess isn't gonna clean itself." I said.

*****

"Mom! I'm back! See, I told you I would be okay!" Naruto called. "Welcome back, Naruto." I greeted as I swept up the broken glass. "Huh? What happened in here? Did something break?" Naruto asked as he noticed the glass on the floor. 

"In a way. Some kids threw a rock at the window today." I informed. I left out the part about the note that was tied to the rock. "Say what?!" Naruto yelled. "Careful, Naruto. I don't want you stepping on any glass." I mentioned.

"Are you okay?! They didn't hurt you, did they?!" He asked. "Don't worry, I'm all right." I said, honestly. 

"Why would they do something like this?"

"It was probably just a harmless prank."

"A harmless prank?! That rock could've seriously hurt you!"

"Naruto, calm down. I'm fine. Really." 

I gave him an assuring smile, then finished cleaning up the glass. "So, how were the exams?" I asked. "Totally awesome! I went up against Kiba and I won!" Naruto cheered. "That's great, Naruto," I said, smiling a closed eye smile. "So, does that make you an official chunin?"

"Eh, not quite. There's a final exam I have to take. Once I beat my opponent, then I'll become a chunin. Believe it!" Naruto explained. "Interesting. When are the finals?" I asked. "In a month. Which means, I need to get training. But..." Naruto trailed off. 

"But what?" I asked, raising a brow. Naruto suddenly fell to his knees and hugged my legs. "Please train me, Mom! I don't want that pervert training me! He's too creepy!" He yelled out. "Pervert?" I repeated. "Naruto, what are you talking?"

"Found you." 

"Gah!" Naruto yelled, pointing towards the window. I followed his pointed finger and found Ebisu standing there. "Ebisu?" I said, confused. Naruto quickly got up and hid behind me. "Him! Kakashi-sensei wants that pervert to train me!" He yelled, still pointing at Ebisu. 

"How inappropriate." Ebisu said as he adjusted his glasses. "Um... Naruto, why don't you start from the beginning?" I asked, looking at him. "I wanted Kakashi-sensei to train me, but he was gonna train Sasuke instead! Now I'm stuck with Ebisu-sensei!" Naruto yelled. 

"Ah, I see. But why is Ebisu by our window?" I asked. "He said, if I could outrun him, he'd reconsider training me and let Kakashi-sensei train me! And I don't want Ebisu-sensei to train me!" Naruto whined. I sighed while shaking my head. 

"Very well. Ebisu, I understand this was just a little test of yours, but I'd like you to stop chasing my son now. I'll be training him from this point forward." I said. "If you insist, Miss Haru," Ebisu said. "Excuse me." He vanished to somewhere else and I faced Naruto.