> “The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.”

>

> ― Bob Marley

Noramori stomped out of the family compound. Her mind was whirling with all kinds of emotions and anger. She looked like a psychopathic murderer as she strode forward without direction.

She didn't pay any mind to her appearance being covered in blood. It had become a fond pastime for her, and it didn't even register to her what she might look like from the outside. In fact, many clan members had been eyeing her with suspicion as she rushed away from the compound. No one stopped her on account of her being the leader's daughter, but many wondered what she had been up to to be covered in so much blood and sweat.

She was freaking out on the inside. She kept expecting someone to stop her. More than anything, she feared that her father would appear in front of her and drag her back for her nightly beating.

As many times as she saw the truth in his aura, she still couldn't accept that her father was this ruthless of a man.

Sure, he had been authoritative and sometimes downright mean about Sasuke and her progress, but he had always been a good man to her. She loved him because he cared enough to try. But this time he had gone too far.

"I hate him!" Noramori screamed out into the night.

She was approaching the village entrance, and the two guards on hand stiffened at the sight of her.

"Little miss, are you alright?" One of the guards addressed her as she approached, while he secretly used sign language to get his partner to go and notify the Hokage of the young Uchiha's current state.

"It's none of your fucking business, but I'm fine," Noramori growled at the man.

Both guards were taken aback at her words, but they simply smiled and let her through.

The second time she passed through the guard, who had not spoken, he flickered away, and Noramori absently noted that she could see the tether the two guards shared stretching toward Hokahge's residence.

She quickly slammed the flow of chakra to her eyes shut. She didn't need to know anything about what her presence had caused, and deep down, she hoped the guard's report would help free her from her torment. Likely, she had come to distrust the village leaders as much as her clan in the past two weeks.

'Everyone is shit; I hate this place.'

She began wandering through the back alleys, subconsciously sticking to the shadows, lightening her steps, and reducing her chakra signature. While the training she was being put through was terrible, her father did a great job of reinforcing the habits of assassination and espionage in the young Uchiha. She didn't even think about the fact that the Hokage knowing about her current state would mean that He would know she had been training earnestly. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together and realize that someone had forced her into a gruesome regimen of practice. She wasn't rushing and didn't appear to be running from anyone, so her current state could only be the result of some horrible new training method the Uchiha had concocted.

Many wouldn't think anything of this; after all, Itachi was known for some particularly crazy methods of advancement at an early age, but those in the know would be concerned that someone like Noramori was suddenly walking around the village covered in dried blood and looking like a girl on a mission to kill.

Unbeknownst to her, two ANBU had been dispatched to her position and were trailing behind her, silently watching from the rooftops as she wandered through the village. They were trying to identify where she was going, and it put them ill at ease seeing the way this young girl was moving.

"I wonder if anyone in this village would care if I simply gave up?" she whispered to herself.

Noramori wasn't thinking straight. She knew that her father had told her that without her help, their clan and her family would fall. Right now, she couldn't bring herself to care. Too much of the abuse her father had put her through reminded her of her past life.

Noramori saw flashing red and blue lights at the corners of her vision.

The distant sound of police sirens and a woman screaming rang through her head.

'I never knew brains looked like that.'

She shook away the horrible memories of her previous life. In her past life, she had responded to everything in a repressed fashion. She never really got to process or feel anything. She didn't have time to feel anything as she was rushed from one traumatic experience to the next. If she let herself fall back into those memories, she knew that the floodgates would break, and she might not come out of the following madness with a shred of sanity intact. She hadn't managed to create a coping skill in this new life, but she had managed to finally let herself feel emotion. She knew that she needed to unpack the pain of her past life, but she was afraid of what sort of emotions her memories would inspire in her. She wouldn't let those thoughts close in on her.

"Noramori, what are you doing in the village at this hour?" She heard a voice coming from her left. The voice came from what appeared to be some sort of food stand, one of the few establishments still open this late into the night.

'Ichiraku's Ramen, hmm, isn't this the place Naruto talks about with almost a religious fervor?' Noramori was curious about the voice. ' It definitely is, and I'm almost certain that the voice that just spoke belonged to him.'

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She turned toward the voice and began approaching.

"Oh my god, are you alright?" Naruto and the stall owner, Ichiraku, called out at the same time.

Noramori halted her steps, and instantly, her emotions closed off as she looked down at her body.

'Hmm, I guess I do look pretty gruesome,' Noramori thought to herself.

"Of course, this was just a bit of training," She put on the sweetest smile that she could muster and replied, "Why do you ask?"

Both Naruto and Ichiraku shivered at the sight of Noramori's smile. It wasn't that it was particularly creepy, but matched with her current state of dress, it made her seem unhinged and psychotic.

"Training! What kind of training are you doing that makes you look like a serial killer?" Naruto screamed back at her.

Noramori's smile only got creepier.

"Stop that, you look terrifying," Naruto continued.

Instantly, Noramori's face went blank; it didn't help bolster her image in the slightest.

The truth was that she just didn't want Naruto to worry about her. She wouldn't admit it to herself, but she didn't really believe everyone in the village was stupid. Just most of them.

A sharp snap rang out as Ichiraku slapped the back of Naruto's head.

"Ow! Hey, what was that for, old man?: Naruto growled at the ramen shop owner.

Ichiraku simply fixed him with a look. A look that promised another slap if he didn't keep his mouth shut.

Ichiraku had seen many terrible things during the previous war. He had seen innocents and children struck down simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had seen entire squadrons deleted from this world because they lacked the proper intel about what they were facing. He had seen so much death and dismemberment that he decided to retire as a ninja and open this ramen shop to live a more relaxed and happy life. He recognized the way that Noramori was acting. She was suffering from some sort of PTSD, and he knew that Naruto was only going to make it worse by drawing attention to the problem when it was so fresh in her mind. Healing could come later, but right now she needed comfort and normalcy.

"Noramori right? Come sit; I will get you a bowl of ramen. What would you like?" Ichiraku said.

"I don't have any money on me," Noramori said back to him in a monotone voice. "I left my compound in a bit of a hurry."

"No worries; I didn't say anything about money. Come, sit; let's get you warmed up." Ichiraku replied with a smile.

"Hey! You never give me any free ramen! I want another bowl!" Naruto whined.

"You've had six. I'm honored that you prize my food so highly, but I think you've had enough. Besides, you haven't even finished your last bowl!" Ichiraku replied.

"Hehe, I could eat a few more; you make the best ramen in the world," Naruto sported a big smile on his face as he laid the flattery on thick, "Once you have a bowl, you'll never be satisfied with anything else, Noramori. Believe it!"

Noramori gave a small smile and began to sit down. She looked like a ghost. She was pale and sweating and covered in blood.

Naruto grimaced at the sight of her.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Naruto looked at her with a worried glance.

"Better than fine," Noramori replied.

"Now, Naruto, stop bothering the young lady and let her order; I'm sure she is very hungry right now," Ichiraku's voice was kind, but he silently mouthed the words "later" to Naruto as the young Uzumaki looked up at him.

Naruto looked from Ichiraku to Noramori and back again. He didn't really understand what was going on, but he decided to follow Ichiraku's advice and let Noramori come around to tell him what was up when she was more comfortable.

"I recommend the pork belly tonkotsu; if Naruto is anything to go by, it is the best dish that I have," Ichiraku's voice was warm and inviting.

"Okay," Noramori replied in a flat voice, like she wasn't even really paying attention to what he had said.

In a few moments, Ichiraku had laid a bowl of ramen in front of her; he put a few extra servings of pork belly into it and silenced Naruto's coming protests at the serving size with a glare before the boy could even start.

Noramori simply stared at the food.

"I wonder if that is what we look like on the inside, once you cut away the skin and separate the meat from the bone." Noramori sounded menacing.

Naruto grimaced but didn't say anything; he had never seen Noramori like this, but he knew that tone. He often found himself using the same one when he couldn't manage to ignore the way the other villagers treated him.

'Yep, the poor girl has definitely been through something horrible,' Ichiraku's thoughts were dark, 'What monster did this to her?'

"None of that now. Dig in; a full stomach will do you wonders," Ichiraku kept his smile on his face.

Noramori reached for her chopsticks and mechanically lifted a few noodles to her mouth.

The broth was nice and rich, and the noodles were perfectly prepared. It jogged her mind and made it harder for her to wall herself off from her most recent traumas. A few tears began to stream down her face. She started to frantically pile in the noodles. Barely pausing to take a breath. Ichiraku simply prepared her another bowl when it seemed like she wasn't going to slow down. She went through four bowls like this without even pausing. The tears kept flowing, growing steadier and steadier. She didn't know what it was about this ramen, but the taste was comforting, akin to something she had always craved. Like the warm embrace of a loving father guarding her against the horrors of the world. She couldn't stop herself. The floodgates were breaking.

Just as she was finishing up her fourth bowl, Ichiraku stepped back from the counter and moved toward the back of the shop. He knew that Naruto was close to her and that she needed comfort from the boy. He didn't want to intrude and wanted to give them some measure of privacy. Of course, he was still going to stay close enough to listen. He didn't know what state the girl was really in, and he didn't want to let her hurt Naruto or herself.

"Hey Noramori," Naruto was thrown off balance by her tears, "Do—do you need anything?"

Noramori turned in a flash and threw herself at the young Uzumaki kid. She hugged him as she sobbed. Her body was shaking, with snot and tears streaming out of her face and getting all over Naruto's jumpsuit.

Naruto froze up and didn't know what to do.

He saw Ichiraku peeking his head out from the back of his ramen stand.

"Hug her, you idiot," Ichiraku whisper-screamed at him.

Naruto quickly followed suit and began rubbing her back as he held his sobbing friend.

"I don't know what happened, but I'm here, " Naruto whispered to her.

He wasn't good with these kinds of things. He spent most of his time dealing with these sorts of emotions alone, and he had never had to comfort anyone else. This was Noramori, his best friend; it hurt to see her like this, so he was trying his best to make sure that she knew that he was here for her and that she wasn't alone.

His mind flashed back to the Hokage's words when she had been in the hospital a couple of weeks ago.

'Maybe she is still recovering? I hope she is going to be okay. No, I'll make sure she is okay. Naruto resolved to help his friend in any way that he could.

"There, there, I got you. It's going to be alright," Naruto whispered to her as he held her a little tighter in his arms.

The two ANBU that had been watching this entire ordeal glanced at each other with sad looks in their eyes and flickered away to report their findings to the Hokage.

This was going to be a hard report to make. A young Uchiha girl, the daughter of the clan head, and the Demon brat of Konoha sat in a ramen shop hugging each other as the Uchiha heiress cried her eyes out.

Ichiraku watched as they flashed away. He didn't know the inner workings of the village, but he knew the significance of the ANBU's presence.

'Just what happened to this poor girl?'