Chapter 11: The Lazy Laborer and the Unexpected Reward
The weekend sun was already high in the sky, its warm rays spilling through the single window of Naruto's apartment and painting a bright rectangle across his sleeping form. It was half past nine, and the boy was still deeply entangled in his blankets, lost in a dreamless sleep. So deep was his slumber that he did not hear the softest creak of his floorboard, nor sense the presence that materialized silently beside his bed.
The figure, clad in standard Jōnin attire with a mask of white hair obscuring one eye, observed the sleeping boy for a long moment. Then, with a movement almost too fast to follow, he drew a kunai and thrust it downward.
Thump.
The blade buried itself into the mattress, the sharp point stopping a hair's breadth from Naruto's exposed throat. The boy didn't even flinch. His breathing remained deep and even.
'He didn't evade,' Kakashi Hatake noted mentally, retrieving his kunai. 'Lord Third wanted me to test his reflexes and perception. It seems his guard is completely down when he's asleep. A significant vulnerability.'
Deciding a more direct approach was needed, Kakashi produced a large, old-fashioned megaphone from his gear. He positioned it inches from Naruto's ear.
"WAKE UP!" he boomed, the sound echoing deafeningly in the small room.
Naruto's reaction was not the startled jolt Kakashi expected. Instead, the boy merely groaned, burrowed deeper under his quilt, and resumed his soft snoring.
Kakashi's visible eye twitched. '...Seriously?'
With a sigh of resignation, he simply grabbed a handful of blanket and pajama collar and hoisted the entire bundle—boy and all—into the air.
"Hey! Hey, Kakashi! I'm still in my pajamas!" Naruto finally protested, his voice muffled by the fabric.
"It doesn't matter," Kakashi stated flatly, carrying him toward the door. "No one cares what you wear for manual labor."
Naruto thrashed weakly. "Fine, fine! I give up! Put me down! I'll get dressed and come with you!"
Once released, Naruto changed his clothes under Kakashi's unwavering, bored gaze.
"You know," Naruto grumbled, pulling on his orange jumpsuit, "if you stare at me the whole time, it kind of defeats the purpose of letting me change so I can't run away."
"Your Iruka-sensei briefed me extensively on your... creative approaches to responsibility," Kakashi replied, his tone dry as dust.
Naruto made a mental note to have a 'chat' with Iruka later. "So, where are we going?"
"Follow me," Kakashi said, and then vanished in a blur of speed, a classic Body Flicker Technique.
Naruto stared at the empty space, a network of black lines forming on his forehead. 'That speed... he's not even trying to be subtle. He's testing me.' The pieces clicked into place. The Shadow Clone prank at the Hokage Tower had definitely raised the Third Hokage's suspicions. This entire "community service" was a cover to assess his abilities.
Choosing not to take the bait, Naruto didn't even attempt to follow. He turned, shuffled to his near-empty refrigerator, and pulled out a carton of milk. He poured himself a glass and placed the carton back on the shelf.
'When will this life of poverty end?' he thought, taking a sip. No one in the village would hire the "demon fox" for odd jobs, leaving him entirely dependent on the meager stipend provided by the village. 'That old man Third Generation has time to spy on me with his crystal ball, but he can't be bothered to increase my allowance a little! Does he think suffering builds character?'
He was midway through his internal tirade when Kakashi reappeared in the room without a sound.
Kakashi stared at the boy calmly drinking his milk. "Why didn't you follow?"
Naruto didn't even look up. "You disappeared in a blink. How was I supposed to keep up with that?"
'Speed: Average,' Kakashi noted internally. He hadn't used his top speed, but the level he'd demonstrated was solidly Chūnin-tier. It was reasonable that a pre-genin couldn't match it. More importantly, he still couldn't conceive of a plausible reason for Naruto to be hiding such significant power.
"Are you finished?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto gave him a sidelong glance and downed the rest of the milk in one gulp. "Finished."
"Good. Let's go. And this time, we'll walk."
Naruto followed Kakashi through the bustling morning streets of Konoha, then into the quieter paths of the surrounding forest. They eventually arrived at a solitary, rustic cottage on the village's outskirts.
"Your task for today," Kakashi announced, gesturing to a vast, water-logged paddy field, "is to help this farmer transplant the rice seedlings."
With that, Kakashi found a comfortable spot in the shade of a large tree, pulled out his well-worn copy of Make-Out Paradise, and began to read.
Naruto sighed, the sound carrying the weight of the world. Protest was futile. Rolling up his pants legs, he stepped into the cool, muddy water and began the monotonous, back-breaking work.
Or so it seemed. Unseen by Kakashi, a single, quick hand seal under the murky water summoned a single Shadow Clone to assist him. Between the two of them, the work that should have taken all day was completed by noon.
'Assessment: Excellent physical stamina. Proficient and efficient use of the Shadow Clone Technique for labor,' Kakashi noted, not even looking up from his book.
"I'm done," Naruto announced, slumping against the fence with a convincingly weary expression. "I'm going home to sleep." The lethargy wasn't entirely feigned; maintaining a lazy disposition was, to him, a core part of his identity.
"Wait a moment."
Naruto looked up, his expression one of pure dread. "What now?"
To his astonishment, Kakashi reached into his flak jacket and pulled out a small, but satisfyingly full, pouch of ryo. He tossed it to Naruto. "Your payment."
Naruto's eyes widened, transforming in an instant from pools of exhaustion to shining coins of avarice. He snatched the pouch from the air, clutching it to his chest like a long-lost treasure. "I thought this was volunteer labor! Since when do volunteers get paid?"
Kakashi's visible eye crinkled. "Well, I officially registered this as a D-rank mission. It didn't feel right, making you work for nothing."
Naruto's brain worked at a speed it rarely did outside of combat or prank-planning. His gaze locked onto Kakashi with the intensity of a hawk spotting a plump rabbit.
"So..." Naruto began, his voice suddenly earnest as he grabbed both of Kakashi's hands in a grateful, two-handed shake. "Does this mean there's money for all my future 'volunteer' labor?"
"Uh... yes?" Kakashi replied, slightly taken aback by the sudden fervor.
"That's fantastic!" Naruto beamed, his grin stretching from ear to ear. "Please, Kakashi-sensei! Take me to do voluntary labor every single day!"
(End of Chapter)