Facing Bad Tropes with Naruko-chan 2 (Patreon)

Facing Bad Tropes with Naruko-chan 2 - (Naruto AU, SI)

Naruko’s first few days at the Pizzeria were among the best she could account for after being born.

First, she didn’t have to worry about things like hunger and thirst (or peeing and pooping) since she had all the important meals of the day, access to the bathroom and her own room with her own bed.

Second, she didn’t have to worry about being targeted as Jonno gave her an outfit she had to wear from time to time. It was a shark-themed blue onesie that covered most of her body, leaving out just her face and her mouth. It wasn’t an ‘all-the-time’ outfit, but Naruko was more than understanding of hiding away her ‘telling’ blonde hair from anyone that could harm her.

The first week was wonderful. She found peace, she could nap and draw whenever she wanted. She got a few baths where she mastered the art of the PTA (Pits, Tits and Ass) which involved her personally taking care of these important bits because those were her ‘precious bits’ as Jonno told her and he couldn’t touch those without making her feel ‘super-weird’.

As she got to clean herself a few times, she could only shudder at how it would feel to have someone touch anywhere around those. Next up was her ‘golden mane’. Naruko’s hair was given some comfort after being subjected to the worst of the grime and the mud, thus soon granting the child a strange sense of ‘lightness’ that she couldn’t ignore.

Everything felt ten times better than how she felt living in the orphanage. Long years of the matron just hating her mere existence, coupled with the ensuing wrath of the civilians… had such a stupid reason to be.

For a time, she thought they had to be punished for what they did, but Jonno told her something that stuck to Naruko’s mind the most out of this week: “You may not forgive and forget, but trying to take revenge on them with the same ferocity or more would make you the monster they wanted you to be.”

It remained in her mind- it told her that she couldn’t just go back to something bad and have the right to be just as mean and horrible as them. In fact, after being told that, she pretty much adopted a very simple mindset: let bygone be bygone.

Naruko had suffered enough, she felt, and going the extra steps to just ‘claim some revenge’ felt a bit wasteful as Jonno asked her what she could gain from it. And sure, it would hurt those that hurt her first, but then… what would be left of her?

It was a frustrating realization, but one that just allowed her to cope better with the reality that it was only for the best that she focused on being alive and being happy. With her plushies, with her drawings, with her own freedom within the Pizzeria as she saw her ‘papa’ in action in the kitchen.

She didn’t see many clients around, many ‘awww’ing at her as she stepped by in her shark onesie, but no one got to interact with her much beyond it. Naruko was just not ready to do any of that. But then… something happened in the morning.

Jonno would usually open at 8, but he would be fully operative at 8:20. So, Naruko would sit by the counter, watching the empty seats and pretty much just be around before the first shift started.

Yet, nothing had prepared her for two Shinobi entering the pizzeria and… looking around before checking by the counter. Naruko had thought about running, but she was a bit paralyzed when she realized these two were ‘police officers’.

Those were very fast, and while they didn’t target her, they tended to be quite hurtful with some of their insults. Still, Naruko was worried that if she appeared guilty, then Jonno would too and that would mean she would lose her only best chance to be happy.

“Hello girl, is your… uh…” The youngest agent paused, then turned at his superior and the older Uchiha rolled his eyes.

“Is your father here, brat?”

“...Yes.”

Did she mess up? Did they know it was her?

Naruko’s little mind was speeding through hundreds of thoughts when she felt a hand rest atop her head as Jonno appeared from the kitchen holding a plate with his free hand.

“If it isn’t Satoru-san and Yasuo-san. How are you two doing?”

“Most well, Jonno. I suppose you have our ‘toll’?”

Jonno rolled his eyes and set the plate down as Naruko had a glimpse over what it was carrying. Two steaming cups, one for each agent. They both reached for those and slowly drank from those and… the oldest of the two sighed in pure bliss.

“Jonno, you don’t know how much of a blessing you are with this ‘Italian Coffee’.”

“To be fair, Konoha truly dropped the ball with this brew. It’s sad.”

“But not as sad now that you are here, sir,” Yasuo hummed contently, yet his gaze shifted to Naruko. “B-By the way, I didn’t know you were married.”

“I am not. My child was born out of wedlock. Never had the chance to tie the knot before she died.”

That was the ‘story’ they came up with. ‘Ruruko’ was born to Jonno and a ‘mother’ that died during childbirth. So, it was now just Jonno and Ruruko.

“Our apologies,” Satoru mumbled, the senior agent sighed. “It’s always tough to lose a wife. Still, the kid looks cute.”

“Thanks.”

“Reminds me of someone I have seen before,” Yasuo pointed out quietly, causing Satoru to look at Naruko for a solid few seconds and…

He chortled. “More like everywhere. Kids around sure are adorable.”

“But-”

“Rookie, we ain’t checking all kids because they remind you of someone.”

“It’s… I guess I am just overthinking it. Ever since the mobs have gotten intense in finding the Kyuubi brat, things have been quite exhausting.”

Naruko tensed up again, but Satoru snorted.

“Kyuubi brat? Don’t tell me you believe that whole lot of shi- I mean, poop.”

Yasuo frowned. “Whatever you mean, sir?”

“The kid is just an unlucky brat. We can’t speak much about it, but I’ll just say that both the boss and his wife were pissed to learn how a certain old friend of theirs was being ridiculous around their daughter. Kid didn’t deserve it.”

“A-Are you saying-”

“No S-Rank secrets in my business, Yasuo-san,” Jonno’s voice rang at the young agent. “Please, do so outside the pizzeria’s premises.”

“Yeah, let’s just keep the top secret chatting for private time, rookie. Or that’s a few runs around the village for you.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

They left shortly after, thanking Jonno and paying him the fee for the coffee. Yet, the girl was confused by one thing in particular about what Satoru had said mid-conversation before leaving.

“Why was the police boss angry at my parents?” Naruko asked quietly, and Jonno hummed as she looked down at her.

“The Police boss is Uchiha Fugaku. He and his wife were close friends with your family before they put you in an orphanage. I think his wife, Mikoto, was your mother’s teammate and offered to take care of you in secret.”

“But?” Naruko pressed with a stronger voice, trying to make sense of why she was denied that chance to have a family.

“The Uchiha Clan are a mixed bag. While the leadership is currently led by good people, there’s dumb ones too, like Yasuo, and they would try to use what you have as a weapon to obtain power,” The man explained, then scratching his chin. “Most of the clans tried to adopt you, I reckon. Many had good reasons, but the overall reason to deny this is because either their clan wasn’t that ‘nice’, or they would have been used as a reason to press for more concessions from the Hokage to ‘make them all equal’ under him.”

“...So, the Kyuubi is behind this?”

“The mere existence of it, yes,” Jonno agreed. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Kyuubi is outright evil. I mean, imagine yourself as a tall fox-like entity napping somewhere, then getting dropped into the village as everyone attacks you.”

“That wouldn’t be nice,” Naruko said gloomily, knowing a thing or two of being attacked for no reason. “So, she feels bad because of that.”

“Yes, she…” Jonno paused, then frowned and then narrowed his eyes at Naruko. “She?”

The girl looked confused. “What?”

“The Kyuubi is female?”

“...Yes?”

“That’s… I guess I can live with that,” He mumbled with a strange tone. “So, is there anything else you want to ask?”

Naruko hummed quietly about this, thinking on what to ask and then she thought of something.

“Can I help you in the kitchen?”

Jonno looked away, stroking his chin once more. “Maybe. But only if you clean your hands and do just what I tell you to do. Okay?”

She nodded, and while the girl didn’t understand why she needed to clean her hands since those were clearly clean, Naruko had some fun filling up some of the donuts with cream once Jonno taught her how to do it.

The girl was so much focused on doing a fine job with her current task that she unconsciously started to call Jonno ‘dad’ in the middle of that effort.

Jonno did notice, and he smiled through the remainder of the day.

—-----d-d-d-d—-------

AN

Part 2 of Naruko’s Childhood Arc. More tropes are mentioned, but next time we will see a proper one in action. Next time… a double crush is established!