Chapter Text
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fanfiction inspired by the world of Naruto. All characters and settings belong to Masashi Kishimoto and the official franchise. I do not claim ownership of any original material, and this story is created purely for fun, entertainment, and creative exploration.
Author’s Note:
Hey, everyone!
I’ve been dreaming of writing a Naruto-Ghost fic for ages, and I finally decided to bring this idea to life! _
This story contains some humor, supernatural chaos, and SasuNaruSasu moments, so expect a mix of laughs, heart-pounding tension, and maybe a few “aww” moments. Your support, reviews, and feedback mean the world to me—they keep me motivated to write even crazier chapters!
So, buckle up, grab some popcorn, and enjoy the ride through haunted apartments, flying fists, and irresistible ghostly charm. 💛💙
He was staring at a complete and utter dump.
Naruto should have known it would turn out like this. The moment Sakura’s eyes had gleamed with that familiar, dangerous sparkle, he should’ve realized he was in deep trouble.
But no.
Call it stupidity. Call it blind trust. For once, he had decided to believe in her. He had convinced himself that maybe—just maybe—she wouldn’t screw him over like she always did. That this time she was actually being a good best friend. Maybe she had finally decided to care about his well-being.
Apparently, Naruto Uzumaki was an idiot.
Because, once again, Haruno Sakura had taken his request and twisted it into the perfect opportunity to mess with him. She had crushed the tiny spark of hope he’d built… purely for her own amusement.
Naruto snorted bitterly at himself, his golden hair falling over his eyes as he stared at the disaster in front of him.
A dump.
No—calling it a dump was generous.
Standing at the entrance, the young boxer slowly turned his head to the right when a sudden sound echoed through the empty apartment. His heart jumped violently in his chest before he forced himself to calm down.
It was only the wind chimes.
Ugly, rusted wind chimes hung crookedly from the cracked window, clattering against each other like they were mocking him.
“Great,” Naruto muttered under his breath.
Whoever had lived here before must have been insane.
With a tired sigh, he stepped inside and pushed the creaking door shut behind him.
No one in their right mind would deny it.
This place was a dump.
But it was his dump.
And there was absolutely nothing he could do about that.
“Besides,” Naruto muttered to himself, rubbing the back of his neck, “I already spent every last cent on it.”
He pulled off his favorite cap, letting his bright blond hair breathe for the first time since arriving. Instantly, the unruly spikes sprang up in every direction, defying gravity like they always did.
Naruto tried to flatten them with his hand. It didn’t help.
Giving up, he locked the door behind him and stepped further into his new—
No.
Ancient.
Residence.
This was his apartment.
His home.
His shelter.
His supposed paradise.
Naruto stared at the crumbling walls and sighed deeply.
Yeah.
Paradise.
Right.
The apartment greeted him in the worst way imaginable. Trash littered the floor—no, the floor was the trashcan. The walls had once been white, but time had transformed them into a sickly gray, speckled with mysterious black stains Naruto had no desire to investigate.
Unfortunately, his curiosity—or perhaps his poor survival instincts—led him into the kitchen.
The moment he stepped inside, he froze.
Then he immediately held his breath.
The smell hit him like a physical attack.
Naruto valiantly tried not to gag. The odor was indescribable. It seemed to come from everywhere at once—as if the entire room itself was rotting.
This place shouldn’t even qualify as a kitchen.
It was a biohazard.
Refusing to die on his first night, Naruto quickly backed out of the room and stumbled into one of the four bedrooms.
By now, nothing could surprise him anymore.
His expectations were already at rock bottom.
Still, the sight made him wince.
The bed sheets looked like they had survived a small war—torn, frayed, and stained beyond recognition. The floor was just as filthy as the rest of the apartment.
Ignoring the disaster for now, Naruto pulled a towel from his bag and wiped down a small spot on the crooked nightstand—one that looked like it might collapse if he breathed too hard.
Carefully, he placed his most important bag on top.
If everything else got ruined, fine.
But that bag had to stay clean.
Grinning faintly at the small victory, Naruto shrugged off his heavy coat and tossed it onto the miserable excuse for a bed before heading out to inspect the remaining rooms.
Honestly, he should have seen this coming.
The ridiculously low price.
The sketchy neighborhood.
The way Sakura had eagerly suggested the place.
Every sign had been there.
And yet he ignored all of them.
Now he was broke, homeless, and living in a mold-infested apartment in the middle of the city’s worst district.
Naruto sighed.
“Well… life can’t get any worse than this.”
CRASH.
The moment the words left his mouth, a broken window frame collapsed loudly somewhere behind him.
Naruto froze.
“…I take it back.”
Snow immediately began drifting through the newly opened gap.
Cursing under his breath, he rushed over and attempted a quick repair using an old bedsheet and a handful of rusty nails. After several minutes of struggle, he managed to secure it—barely.
Good enough.
Tonight had already been a disaster.
Dragging his exhausted body back into the bedroom, Naruto decided to call it a night.
Every muscle ached. His eyelids felt like they weighed a hundred pounds.
The day had been brutal.
First, he had rushed to an early boxing match the moment the sun came up. Then, after barely catching his breath, he returned to his old apartment—only for his landlord to throw all of his belongings out onto the street.
Just like that, he had lost the only home he’d ever known.
And then Sakura had appeared with her wonderful solution.
“Don’t worry, Naruto!” she had said.
“Leave it to me!”
Naruto groaned quietly into the thin sheet he was using as a blanket.
Worst mistake of his life.
Now all the money he earned from boxing would probably go into fixing this cursed apartment.
A single tear slipped from the corner of his eye.
Damn Sakura.
After another failed attempt to sleep, Naruto finally gave up. He threw the borrowed sheet aside and stood up with a frustrated groan.
There was only one place in the entire apartment that felt remotely bearable.
The veranda.
Pulling his coat tighter around his athletic frame, Naruto stepped outside.
The sight below was depressing.
Crooked street lamps.
Cracked pavement.
Drunks staggering down the street with bottles clutched in their hands.
But when Naruto looked up, the world changed.
Above the filthy neighborhood, the sky stretched endlessly.
Snow drifted softly through the air, clouds drifting lazily across the darkness. And despite everything, faint stars still glittered between them.
Naruto smiled faintly.
No matter how bad things got…
The stars were always there.
Quiet.
Steady.
Encouraging.
Just like his mother used to.
Warmth spread through his chest.
Maybe this situation wasn’t impossible after all.
Shivering from the cold, Naruto eventually stepped back inside and closed the balcony door.
The moment he did, a strange sound reached his ears.
A rushing noise.
Like wind forcing its way through a narrow space.
Frowning, Naruto slowly walked toward his bedroom.
His steps halted when he saw the window.
The one he had just fixed.
It was wide open.
The nails he had hammered in were scattered across the floor.
And the bedsheet he had used to cover the gap was gone.
A powerful gust of icy wind blew through the room.
Naruto stared.
His brain slowly processed what he was seeing.
Then his eyes widened.
His mouth opened.
And three horrified words escaped him.
“What. The. Hell?!”
“Wait a minute… let me get this straight.”
The pink-haired woman sitting across from him at the small café table leaned forward, amusement dancing in her green eyes. “All your stuff was on the ground? Bags flipped inside out and everything?”
“Not torn apart,” Naruto corrected quickly, looking deeply distressed. “More like… ruffled. As if someone went through all of them, tried on every piece of clothing, then tossed everything around the room.”
“And this happened to all your bags?” Sakura raised a delicate eyebrow. “All five of them?”
Naruto sighed and took another sip of the coffee she had bought him. Considering he was currently broke, he didn’t even have enough money for lunch—let alone coffee.
“I know you don’t believe me,” he muttered, “but I’m not lying.”
“I never said you were,” Sakura replied calmly. “But maybe it was just a dream.”
“A dream?”
“Yesterday was exhausting for you,” she continued. “You had a match, got kicked out of your apartment, moved all your stuff… you were dead tired. Your brain probably just mixed everything together.”
Naruto ran a hand through his messy blond hair.
“I thought about that too,” he admitted. “But I pinched myself, slapped my face, even went back to sleep hoping everything would reset. When I woke up again, the clothes were still scattered everywhere.”
He leaned forward, lowering his voice.
“I’m telling you, Sakura… something’s wrong.”
She hummed thoughtfully.
“Couldn’t it have been a prank?” she suggested. “Maybe some teenagers broke in while you were on the balcony and messed with your stuff to scare you.”
Naruto immediately shook his head.
“That’s impossible for several reasons.”
“Oh?”
“First, it happened around two in the morning. Who would stay awake that late just to prank someone they don’t even know?” he said, counting off on his fingers. “Second, the door was locked. The whole apartment was locked. I even remember locking the veranda behind me.”
He crossed his arms firmly.
“And third, no one in their right mind would climb four floors just to break into a rundown apartment in a shady neighborhood.”
Naruto looked at her seriously.
“There was no one there.”
He paused.
“So believe me when I say this… it wasn’t a human.”
Sakura stared at him.
Then she frowned.
“What are you saying?” she asked slowly. “You don’t actually think a ghost is behind this, do you?”
Naruto nodded without hesitation.
“Yes.”
Her expression went flat.
“That is exactly what I think.”
Sakura dragged a hand down her face.
“No, Naruto,” she said tiredly. “That’s the least reasonable explanation.”
“Why?”
“Because ghosts, fairytales, ogres, and every other supernatural creature you can think of are imaginary. Linking a ghost to a real-life event is just ridiculous.”
Naruto leaned back in his chair.
“Dismissing something just because you’ve never seen it is ridiculous too,” he argued. “Can you honestly believe humans are the only intelligent beings in this entire world?”
Sakura’s frown deepened.
“I blame those stupid supernatural shows you watched when you were younger.”
Naruto scoffed.
“First of all, I was addicted to boxing—not ghost shows. And second—”
“You’re still wrong.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You absolutely are.”
“You just don’t believe me.”
Sakura crossed her arms.
“What did you expect?” she said bluntly. “You show up telling me ghosts are ransacking your laundry and expect me to take it seriously? Grow up, Naruto.”
Naruto rolled his eyes and folded his arms stubbornly.
“Fine. If you refuse to believe me, come see it for yourself. I didn’t touch anything after it happened. Everything should still be exactly the way it was last night.”
He leaned forward with a challenging look.
“Explain to me how a human could sneak in, rummage through five bags, and leave without me noticing when I was barely ten meters away.”
Sakura stared at him for a moment.
Then she sighed.
“Well… I don’t have anything better to do today.”
She stood up.
“Let’s go prove your ghost theory wrong.”
Naruto immediately stood as well.
“Good.”
Within minutes they had left the cozy café and jumped into a cab. Naruto urged the driver to hurry toward his apartment so Sakura could witness the “ghost activity” with her own eyes.
Half an hour later, the cab stopped in front of the building.
Naruto stepped out first.
Then he froze.
“…What?”
He stared at the building entrance.
Then he checked the number on the door.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
Checked the number again.
It was the same one.
The same building.
And yet—
“What in the name of boxing…?” Naruto whispered.
Sakura pushed past him impatiently.
“Stop being weird.”
She opened the apartment door.
Then she stepped inside.
And immediately broke into a wide grin.
The apartment was beautiful.
Bright navy-blue wallpaper decorated the walls, patterned with soft bubble-like designs. The ceramic floor gleamed, polished so clean it reflected the light from the windows. Even the kitchen sparkled like it had just been renovated.
Sakura’s smile slowly turned envious.
“Wow…”
She walked through the rooms one by one, inspecting everything.
By the time she reached the bedroom—the one containing Naruto’s belongings—her eyebrows knitted together.
His bags were neatly lined up.
The clothes were folded.
Nothing was scattered.
Nothing was messy.
Everything looked perfectly normal.
Sakura turned toward the doorway with a smug expression.
“See?” she said.
Naruto was still standing frozen at the entrance like a statue.
“There’s nothing here. Your clothes are exactly where they should be. You must’ve dreamed the whole thing.”
She crossed her arms proudly.
“And this apartment is amazing. You should be thanking me for finding it at such a great price.”
Naruto slowly swallowed.
“S-Sakura-chan…”
“Yes?”
“…This isn’t my apartment.”
She blinked.
“…What?”
“That’s your stuff, isn’t it?” she said suspiciously. “Are you trying to worm your way out of this again?”
Naruto shook his head frantically.
“The place I entered yesterday was a dump,” he said quickly. “A complete wreck. The smell alone almost killed me. There’s no way it looked like this.”
Sakura studied his face carefully.
“Are you okay…?”
Naruto rubbed his temples.
“I’m starting to question that myself.”
He glanced nervously back toward the apartment.
“…Let’s leave.”
“What?”
“This place definitely needs an exorcist.”
Sakura didn’t like the sound of that—but she followed him anyway.
Not because she believed him.
But because the look on Naruto’s face genuinely scared her.
Down in the lobby, Naruto frantically scrolled through his phone contacts.
“Wait!” he suddenly exclaimed. “Didn’t Hana Tori say her grandfather was some kind of Zen master? Maybe she knows an exorcist!”
Sakura’s eye twitched.
“Hana Tori? The girl who stalked you because you were good at boxing?”
Naruto scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“…Yeah.”
“You want to ask her for help?”
“It’s my best option!”
“Did you forget how much trouble it took to get her to stop following you?!”
“But what choice do I have?” Naruto pleaded. “I can’t just let ghosts take over my apartment!”
Sakura stepped directly in front of him, blocking his path.
“No.”
“Why not?!”
“Because I refuse to reopen that nightmare.”
Naruto groaned in frustration.
Sakura sighed.
“Listen,” she said more gently. “Why don’t you stay at my place tonight?”
Naruto blinked.
“Tomorrow we’ll come back here. If the apartment still looks nice like this, then you admit it was probably a dream. But if it’s really the mess you described…”
She shrugged.
“Then we’ll call an exorcist.”
Naruto hesitated.
“…You really think I imagined all of it?”
“I honestly don’t know what to think yet,” Sakura admitted.
After a long pause, Naruto sighed in defeat.
“Fine.”
He rubbed the back of his head.
“But I can’t come right now. I need to go to the boxing gym first.”
“Oh?” Sakura asked. “Your tournament?”
“Yeah. Sensei said I have to sign in today or I can’t compete.”
Sakura scowled.
“One day your procrastination is going to ruin your life, Uzumaki Naruto.”
Naruto flashed his usual carefree grin.
“Not today!”
And before Sakura could ask another question, he bolted down the street at ridiculous speed—disappearing into the crowd like a ninja vanishing in a cloud of smoke.
Sakura stared after him.
“…Idiot.”
Naruto sighed for what felt like the hundredth time and flopped onto his side again.
This was hopeless.
He was tired. His body ached. His brain felt like it had been punched twelve rounds straight.
And yet—
Sleep refused to show up.
His blue eyes slowly opened, only to be greeted by the exact same horrifying sight they had been staring at for the past hour.
Pink.
So much pink.
The pink nightstand.
The pink lamp.
The pink curtains fluttering gently in the breeze from the fan.
Even the blanket he had kicked halfway across the bed was pink—decorated with little sakura petals.
Naruto groaned and dragged the blanket completely off himself.
“I can’t stay here,” he whispered to himself, sitting upright in the overly pink guest room Sakura had prepared for him.
Naruto Uzumaki had survived street fights, boxing matches, and one extremely questionable landlord.
But this?
This room was testing the limits of his endurance.
He rubbed his face tiredly.
Naruto had never been the type of person who could sleep well in a bed that wasn’t his. Normally he would just suck it up and deal with it, but tonight had been… strange.
Very strange.
And honestly?
The room wasn’t bad.
The bed was soft.
The air smelled nice.
The temperature was perfect.
But the pink… Dear God, the pink!
“…I think the ghost apartment might actually be safer,” he muttered.
At least ghosts didn’t decorate.
He stood up quickly.
“Yep. That’s it. I’m leaving.”
Naruto pulled his hoodie over his head, slipped into his jeans and sneakers, then checked his watch.
10:00 PM.
His eyes lit up. “Nice! I can still catch the last train.”
Carefully, he tiptoed toward the front door and opened it as quietly as possible. Sakura slept like a rock, but he still didn’t want to risk waking her.
He slipped outside and gently closed the door behind him. Naruto paused in the hallway. He really was grateful to Sakura. She had tried to help him. She had even given him a place to stay.
But he was a boxer.
And boxers didn’t run away from fights.
Especially not when the prize was the only apartment he owned.
Even if that apartment was a moldy disaster.
Even if it smelled like death.
Even if it was possibly haunted.
Naruto clenched his fists.
“That dump cost me years of savings,” he muttered. “No ghost is kicking me out of my own place.”
Luckily, he still had the cash he’d earned from his fight earlier that day. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for the train ride home.
Grinning to himself, Naruto hurried toward the station.
He absentmindedly ran his tongue along one of his teeth—the one that felt dangerously loose.
“Totally worth it,” he mumbled.
Boxing had always been worth it.
He had started learning it when he was just a kid.
Back then he had been small, cute, and—according to every bully in the neighborhood—“too pretty not to tease.”
Which was apparently an invitation to pick on him.
After getting tired of being bullied, ten-year-old Naruto had begged his mother to let him join karate classes.
Her answer?
Absolutely not!
Apparently ten-year-olds were “too fragile,” and “bones break easily,” and “walking home at night is dangerous.”
Ten-year-old Naruto had hated those reasons.
Then one day a group of bullies smashed his head open with a piece of metal.
After that?
His mother suddenly discovered the importance of self-defense.
Karate still didn’t happen though. Instead, she enrolled him in boxing.
At first Naruto had complained.
Then he started enjoying it.
Then he started loving it.
Soon he was winning fights.
Making friends.
Earning respect.
People stopped seeing him as the ‘cute kid’.
They started seeing him as the fighter.
And Naruto loved every second of it.
Which was why he absolutely refused to lose a fight against something as stupid as a ghost.
Naruto stopped walking when he reached the familiar apartment door.
His blue eyes sharpened.
“Alright,” he muttered.
With determination burning through his veins, he pulled out his keys and unlocked the door.
The apartment was different again. Not as filthy as the first night. Not sparkling clean like that morning. It looked… somewhere in between.
Like a place that had been abandoned for a week.
Locking the door behind him, Naruto stepped into the apartment and took a deep breath.
Then he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at the empty room.
“Alright, you stupid ghost! Get your stinking ass out here right now and fight me like a decent opponent!”
His voice echoed through the hall.
“If you win, I’ll leave without a second thought! But if I win, you’re packing your ghostly bags and moving on to wherever dead people go!”
He pointed dramatically at the air.
“YOU HEAR ME?!”
Silence.
Nothing moved.
Five full minutes passed.
Naruto scratched the back of his head.
“…Okay, maybe yelling at empty air wasn’t my brightest idea.”
For a brief moment, doubt crept into his mind. Maybe the apartment wasn’t haunted. Maybe he had just imagined everything. Maybe he had been so exhausted that his brain decided to invent ghosts for entertainment.
He opened his mouth to call himself an idiot—
Then the temperature dropped.
Naruto blinked.
“…Oh.”
The air around him suddenly turned cold. Not normal cold.
The kind of cold that crawled under your skin.
And then—
Gold.
A faint golden glow spread slowly through the hall.
Naruto stared.
The entire room shimmered with it. The light wasn’t bright or blinding—it was soft, but rich, like freshly mined gold.
Even his own blond hair looked dull next to it.
“Well,” Naruto muttered, rolling his shoulders, “I guess that answers that.”
He grinned.
“I see you’re finally making an entrance. Pretty dramatic one too.”
Moving quickly, Naruto dashed toward the bedroom where he had left his most important bag. Relief washed over him when he saw it sitting exactly where he had left it.
“Good. At least the ghost respects personal property.”
He rummaged through the front pocket and pulled out his boxing wraps.
Naruto had promised himself long ago that he would never use his boxing gloves outside the ring. So instead, he wrapped his hands in long strips of strong white cloth—tightening them carefully around his knuckles.
As he finished tying them, a thought crossed his mind.
“…I wonder if these even work on ghosts.”
He didn’t have time to think about it.
The golden air suddenly sliced toward him.
Naruto’s body reacted instantly.
He dodged.
A sharp gust of air cut through the space where his head had been a second earlier, slamming into the wall behind him like an invisible sword.
“Okay!” Naruto shouted, diving onto the bed as another attack followed. “So we’re skipping the introductions!”
The golden gusts kept coming.
One after another.
Naruto rolled off the bed, grabbed a small table, and shoved it in front of him as a shield.
The table shattered instantly.
“…Yeah, that didn’t help.”
Naruto ducked behind the sofa as another invisible blade sliced through the air above him.
Normally, Naruto was confident in his fighting skills.
He had trained for years.
But this?
This opponent didn’t have a body.
And punching wind was proving to be significantly harder than expected.
After several minutes of dodging, ducking, and narrowly avoiding getting sliced in half, Naruto’s patience finally snapped.
“Alright, that’s enough running!”
His clothes were torn.
Several thin cuts lined his arms and shoulders.
Clearly, dodging alone wasn’t working.
Naruto’s brows furrowed as a reckless idea formed in his mind.
“Fine. Let’s try something stupid.”
He dashed toward the kitchen.
Another gust of golden air flew past his shoulder, barely missing him.
Naruto reached the stove and twisted the knob.
Flames burst to life.
Then he started punching.
Fast.
Hard.
Each punch pushed the air around him backward, forcing the freezing currents toward the stove’s heat. The hot air rising from the flames clashed with the cold golden wind.
Slowly—
The golden glow weakened.
Naruto grinned.
“Ha!”
The air lost its shine.
The golden particles faded.
Naruto pumped his fist in the air.
“Alright! Round one goes to me!”
He cracked his neck.
“Two more rounds and you’re out of my apartment!”
A dark chuckle echoed behind him.
The sound made the hairs on Naruto’s neck stand up.
Slowly—very slowly—something began to appear in the golden air.
At first it was only a faint shape.
Like an old film slowly coming into focus.
Then the shape gained color.
Form.
Weight.
Naruto swallowed.
Floating before him was a man.
Or something that looked like one.
His skin was pale—so pale it almost blended with the air around him. His body had a human shape: head, torso, arms, legs.
But everything about him felt… unreal.
His fingers glowed faintly.
His long black hair drifted weightlessly around his face.
Two strands framed his cheeks, their ends curling upward in strange spikes.
Naruto stared.
“…Those look like chicken tails.”
A small chuckle escaped him before he could stop it.
The ghost’s expression darkened instantly.
He cracked his knuckles slowly.
Clearly, the human’s lack of fear was beginning to annoy him.
“I’ll admit,” the ghost said, his deep voice echoing through the room, “you have courage.”
Naruto blinked.
“Oh.”
He tilted his head curiously.
“You can talk.”
Then he asked the most obvious question. “…Are you human?”
The ghost’s eyes narrowed. “A pointless question from an idiot doesn’t deserve an answer.”
A blade of air sliced toward Naruto’s face. He barely dodged. The attack left a thin line of blood on his cheek. Naruto wiped it away casually.
“I’ll take that as a ‘no.’”
He crossed his arms.
“So you’re a ghost. Cool.”
He pointed at the floor.
“But that still doesn’t explain why you’re haunting my apartment.”
The ghost’s eyes flashed dangerously.
Naruto kept talking.
“You’re already dead, right? So what’s the point of keeping an apartment? It’s not like ghosts pay rent.”
The response came instantly. Several razor-sharp blades of air launched toward him.
“HEY!”
Naruto dove behind the sofa as a knife flew past his head.
“Can you stop throwing sharp objects at me?!”
A screwdriver slammed into the wall inches from his leg.
“I’m trying to have a conversation here!”
More furniture flew across the room.
Naruto crouched behind the sofa, panting.
“Seriously! I don’t want to die fighting over an apartment when I still have a whole career ahead of me!”
Suddenly—
Everything went quiet.
Naruto frowned. Slowly, cautiously, he peeked over the edge of the sofa. The ghost was standing directly behind him. Naruto yelped and jumped backward. Unfortunately, his hand landed directly on an upright nail.
“OW!”
He snatched his hand back, clutching it to his chest.
The ghost looked down at him.
“What do you wish to live for?”
Naruto blinked. “…Eh?”
“I do not repeat myself.”
Naruto scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“Well… I want to become a professional boxer.” He shrugged. “That’s been my dream forever. So if you kill me here, I’ll just become a ghost too!”
He pointed at the ghost threateningly.
“And then I’ll haunt your ass for the rest of eternity.”
The ghost smirked. “That is a strange way to beg for your life.”
Naruto’s eye twitched. “Who’s begging, you bastard?!”
He pointed at thin air.
“I’m asking for a fair fight! No ghost magic, no deadly attacks! Just fair, honest-to-God fight!”
Then he crossed his arms.
“Winner gets the apartment.”
The ghost’s non-existent smile vanished.
“This apartment belongs to me.”
Naruto scoffed.
“Yours? I paid for this place!” He pulled a folded paper from his pocket. “I even have the lease!”
The ghost looked unimpressed. “Worthless paper means nothing to me.”
Naruto sighed heavily. Talking to this guy felt like arguing with a brick wall.
“So you’re refusing to fight fair?”
“I promise only that your death will be quick.”
Naruto groaned. “Great. Fantastic.”
The golden light began filling the room again.
Naruto sighed. “Well… I tried.”
He quickly pulled a small bottle from his jacket.
The moment the ghost attacked—
Naruto splashed the contents directly onto him.
The ghost froze. Then instantly red chains came from nowhere and pulled him down, he collapsed to the floor with a splash of gold, baffled.
Naruto stared down at him, eyes rolling in wonder. “…Huh. That actually worked.”
He scratched his head awkwardly.
“I really didn’t want to use that.”
The ghost stared at him in utter shock.
“…How?”
Naruto crouched beside him and started explaining.
“When I woke up this morning, I was pretty sure the apartment was haunted.” He held up the bottle. “So I visited a monk.”
He shook the half-empty bottle.
“Apparently this is some form of blessed water. Something about sutras and binding spirits immersed in it.”
The ghost struggled furiously.
“Will… kill… you…”
Naruto leaned back casually, somehow fearing a golden air blade will slice his face in two.
“If I were you, I’d stop threatening me.” He stood up and stretched. “Unless I say the release phrase, you’re stuck in these chains forever.”
“…!”
He shrugged. “I don’t mind leaving you there, honestly. But I’m a nice guy.”
He glanced down at the immobilized ghost.
“So I’ll give you one last chance.”
The ghost glared at him. “…Fuck you.”
Naruto sighed. “Your loss.”
He dusted off his hands.
“In that case, I’m going to unpack and enjoy my apartment.”
Having said that, Naruto flashed the fuming ghost a bright grin and gave him an exaggerated bow before wandering off toward the room where he had left his luggage.
Since it was getting late—and he was completely exhausted—Naruto decided to do only the bare minimum of cleaning in what would temporarily be his bedroom. The rest of the apartment could wait.
Dust still lingered in the corners, and the floor was far from perfect, but after dragging a rag across the worst of the mess and tossing a few stray items aside, the room started looking far more acceptable.
By the time he finally stepped back to admire his work, the clock had crept close to one in the morning.
Three hours.
Three long hours of sweeping, wiping, and muttering complaints later, the room was no longer the disaster it had been earlier.
Naruto grinned proudly at the result.
“Not bad,” he said to himself.
Stretching his sore arms over his head, he wandered toward the kitchen. His footsteps echoed softly in the quiet apartment as he turned the faucet.
For a brief moment, nothing happened.
Then clear water flowed out in a smooth stream.
Naruto’s grin widened immediately.
“Nice.”
The cold water ran over his fingers, clean and refreshing, and he felt a small wave of satisfaction.
Water worked.
That was one problem down.
The next thing on his mental checklist was the electricity. The lights had been on since the moment he first stepped into the apartment, and they hadn’t flickered off even once.
Still, better safe than sorry.
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully.
“Gotta check the bills tomorrow,” he muttered to himself. “Never know if something weird is going on.”
Turning away from the sink, he began heading back toward his room.
As he passed through the front hall, Naruto slowed down slightly.
The ghost was still there.
Exactly where he had been left.
Still stuck.
Still glaring.
Still radiating pure fury.
Naruto stared at him for a moment before sighing.
Honestly… the guy looked kind of pathetic.
Walking a little closer, Naruto scratched the side of his cheek and gave the ghost a sympathetic look.
“Look,” he began, sounding almost apologetic, “I really don’t want to leave you like this.”
The ghost’s glare sharpened instantly.
Naruto ignored it.
“You probably love this place a lot,” he continued casually. “I mean, that’s gotta be why you’re so possessive and refusing to hand over ownership of the apartment.”
He gestured vaguely around them.
“But I promise I’ll take really good care of it.”
Naruto smiled reassuringly.
“With that in mind, you really don’t need to be scared anymore. So it’s totally fine if you just… pass on.”
The ghost’s response was immediate.
A murderous glare.
And a very clear—
“Fuck you!”
Naruto blinked. “…Wow.”
He rubbed the back of his head.
“Being stubborn never helped anyone, just so you know,” he said thoughtfully. “Besides, you look younger than me. You probably died pretty young.”
The ghost’s eye twitched.
Naruto sighed.
“Well, I won’t hide the fact that I feel kind of sorry for you.”
His tone shifted slightly.
“But I’m not charitable enough to let you go on a killing rampage with me as the target.”
He shrugged.
“I’m kind, but I’m not that much of a fool.”
“Who asked your ass for anything?!” the ghost snapped furiously. “You can keep that pity and shove it up your a—!”
“Alright, alright!” Naruto cut in quickly, raising both hands. “Geez! There’s no need for foul language.”
The blond shifted his weight and gave a small shrug.
“Well, since we’ll apparently be here for a while, I guess introductions are in order.”
The ghost looked like he was seconds away from exploding.
Naruto continued cheerfully anyway.
“I’m Uzumaki Naruto. Twenty-four years old. First-class boxer.”
He tapped his chest proudly.
“Both my parents are dead, but I’ve got loads of friends.”
He paused briefly. Then smiled again.
“Well… nice to be living with you, I guess.”
The ghost’s face twisted with rage.
“Fuck. You.”
Naruto sighed deeply. “You really need to update your dictionary.”
He stretched lazily and started standing up.
“I guess there’s no other choice then.” He yawned. “I’m tired and I’m going to bed.”
Naruto turned and began walking away.
Then he paused and glanced back over his shoulder.
“So if you need anything—” He waved a hand casually. “—not that you will, since you’re a ghost and all—just holler.”
With that, Naruto gave his captured ghost a cheerful goodnight and skipped off toward his bedroom.
Behind him, in the middle of the front hall, a very disturbed, furious, and deeply confused ghost remained glued helplessly to the floor.
And for the first time in a very long time—
He had absolutely no idea what to do.
Naruto had picked up a few things about his spectral roommate through careful observation (and a surprising amount of trial-and-error pain).
First, the ghost was definitely male, so from now on, he’d be a “he.”
Second, he had a temper that could probably generate hurricanes, so Naruto resolved to approach him calmly—at least as calmly as a guy who’d been nearly impaled by flying golden knives could.
Third, no one else could see him—not Sakura, not the movers, not even the nosy neighbor peeking in from the corridor—so Naruto was entirely alone in this supernatural mess. Lastly… and most frustratingly, the ghost was ridiculously good-looking, and Naruto had yet to decide whether to feel annoyed, flustered, or vaguely intimidated. Spoiler: he felt all three.
“I still don’t get it,” muttered Sabaku Gaara, taking a long gulp of water as if it might magically erase the mental image. “A residential ghost… and no one else notices him?”
“Easy,” Naruto said, tightening his boxing wraps with the air of someone explaining quantum physics to a toddler. “Nobody can see him. For some reason, he only shows himself to me.”
“And you’re not scared?” Gaara asked, one brow arching like a cat’s tail in suspicion.
Naruto shook his head. “Hmm… not really. I won’t lie, the first time he scattered my stuff across the apartment, I jumped out of my skin. But after that? Nah. He’s not scary. He’s… more like a feisty stray cat who’s really, really into your belongings.”
Gaara stared. “You’re one weird human, you know that?”
“I try,” Naruto said with a grin, launching into a furious rhythm on the sandbag. But even as he punched, his mind flicked back to the ghost, trying to calculate the exact odds of surviving another night without accidentally being murdered by a floating teenager.
“But seriously, Naruto, don’t you need to get someone to exorcise him?” Gaara asked, voice tight with disbelief. “He’s been hanging around for… what, five or six days? Isn’t it time to let him move on, instead of keeping him hostage?”
“Seven days,” Naruto corrected, eyes narrowing as he delivered a precise uppercut to the bag. “And I’m not keeping him hostage. He’s free to go… as long as he agrees to my rooming conditions.”
Gaara’s jaw nearly hit the floor. “Rooming conditions?”
Naruto nodded gravely, as though explaining the rules of professional boxing. “First, he stops trying to kill me. Normally, I wouldn’t mind sharing the apartment—he’s clearly attached to it—but I can’t sleep knowing there’s a ghost out to murder me. So, step one: no stabbing, strangling, or impaling. Step two… well, mostly just that. Step three is optional: don’t throw my laundry out the window.”
Gaara pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s it? You’re seriously just going to ignore the fact that he’s a random corpse’s soul and treat him like a roommate?”
“Normal is overrated,” Naruto shrugged, bobbing his head like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Even if he looks fierce and scary as hell, he’s still… probably a child. Maybe eighteen or so. And I can’t bring myself to make a child homeless. Even if he’s ethereal. Besides, where does it say humans and ghosts can’t live together?”
“In every known religious text?” Gaara countered flatly.
Naruto paused mid-punch, considering that. “Pfft. Well, those texts never considered my reality, did they?”
“And you’re actually okay with a homicidal teenager ghost living with you?” Gaara asked, disbelief coating every word.
“Eh,” Naruto said, bouncing lightly on his heels. “His death threats are entertaining. Plus, he makes the apartment lively. It’s kind of like having a roommate… if that roommate could literally blow your head off with a glare.”
Gaara groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose again. “You’re hopeless.”
“Probably,” Naruto admitted with a grin, spinning back to the sandbag. “But I’ve got a long night ahead, and I’ve been itching for a few rounds anyway. You in, or just here to lecture me on ghost etiquette?”
Tired of the rambling and ready to spar, Gaara stepped into the ring. He grabbed the sandbag Naruto had been obliterating and gave him a challenging glare.
Naruto’s blue eyes gleamed with uncontainable excitement. He nodded once.
“You’re so on, Sabaku!”
“So, you finally agree to hear my conditions?” Naruto asked, carefully bottling up his excitement so it didn’t spill over like cheap sake.
“Stop spewing unnecessary words and hurry up with it, before I beat you to death!”
Naruto grinned at the death threat as if it were a compliment. Leaning down, he held the long piece of sutra in his left hand. “Alright then. Condition one: you promise not to kill me, hurt me, or damage my hands. Because, well… a boxer’s hands are basically his life.”
“I knew you’d pull something chicken like this,” the ghost muttered, his tone a mix of irritation and reluctant amusement.
“I’m not chicken,” Naruto said brightly, “just cautious. You clearly don’t trust me, so this is a… call it an insurance policy, for both our sakes.”
The ghost released a sound like a disgruntled cat and muttered, “Fine, I agree.”
“Nope,” Naruto said, shaking his head. “You have to say it out loud. ‘I promise not to hurt you in any way possible, especially your hands.’”
“This is stupid. I don’t go back on my words. When I said I agree, it means I agree.”
“Promise and agreement aren’t the same thing,” Naruto replied, tapping his temple knowingly. “A promise has… emotional weight. You wouldn’t want me sulking in the corner for the rest of eternity, would you?”
Rolling his eyes, the ghost grudgingly said, “I promise not to hurt your ass in any way possible, especially those worthless hands that can’t even hit my form, let alone win a fight.”
“Well done, Blue-chan,” Naruto said with a mock bow. “Condition two: I want to know your name. Calling you Blue-chan is fine for now, but clearly, you hate it, so let’s settle this like civilized beings.”
“Enough with this nonsense. I won’t obey such a senseless condition just for your peace of mind. If I must, I’d rather be bound to this ground forever than reveal my name to a… lowly creature like you!”
Naruto sighed, flopping dramatically onto the floor. “Yara, yara… I knew this one would be tough. But you don’t need to be that rude.”
“Hmph!”
“Fine,” Naruto said, sitting up, still calm despite the ghost’s glare. “I’ll keep calling you Blue-chan. Consider it a placeholder until you decide I’m not completely insane.”
“You really are stupid,” the ghost muttered. “First time I’ve ever met a human like you.”
“Unique,” Naruto corrected with a grin. “Moving on: Condition three is simple. I want you to… live here with me.”
The ghost froze mid-hover, eyes widening as if Naruto had just suggested knitting a sweater for a hungry lion.
“You’re not just stupid,” the ghost said, voice dripping incredulity. “You’re… unbelievably retarded. Who in their right mind asks a ghost to move in with them? Do you even realize how moronic that sounds?!”
Naruto tilted his head, golden hair falling over one eye. “Yes. But hear me out. You clearly love this apartment. Even after death, you won’t leave it. You’ve tried attacking me, throwing knives, and issuing death threats… yet I can’t bring myself to think of you as evil. You’re calm now, you’re not vengeful, and frankly… your aura is kind of beautiful. Plus, you won’t eat, sleep, or hog the couch. Honestly, I think having you around will be fun!”
The ghost stared, utterly unamused. “You’re an idiot.”
Naruto grinned. “Fine. Think whatever you like. Stay here. Don’t disappear while I lift your restrictions.”
“Hmph. I’ll honor my promise and nothing else.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Naruto said, raising the sutra.
He began chanting, stumbling over kanji and mispronouncing syllables, but eventually, the bindings started to unravel. Gold and blue sparks danced across the room, mesmerizing Naruto with their brilliance. He couldn’t help the satisfied smile tugging at his lips.
“What the fuck are you looking at?!” the ghost snapped, breaking the trance.
“Nothing, nothing,” Naruto muttered airily, stretching his tired muscles. “Now that we’re officially roommates, let’s set some ground rules.”
“I haven’t agreed to that condition—”
“Right,” Naruto said, grinning, “since you don’t need food, water, or sleep, the rules are simple. First: I’ll put up a chart with my schedule—practice, matches, camps, tournaments—so you know where I am and don’t worry about me disappearing.”
“Who would care about your ass? The minute you disappear, I’m taking over this apartment!”
“Secondly, you’re welcome in all rooms… except my bedroom. Remember the last time you shuffled my stuff? Yeah. Not fun.”
“I’ll go wherever I want! You’re not the boss of me!”
Naruto sighed, hands on hips in universal exasperation. “You were a problem child before you died, weren’t you? Must you disagree with everything I say?”
“I disagree because everything you say is stupid,” the ghost shot back. “I don’t care about your rules, your charts, or your room. They’re all crap!”
With that, the ghost vanished in a flash of golden dust, leaving Naruto rubbing his forehead, frowning.
“Dear God,” he muttered, “I know now how every parent with a teenager feels.”
"Thank you very much! I’ll do my best to win!"
Naruto acknowledged the older man’s eyes, bright with encouragement and a glint that once might have unsettled him. But by now, he’d grown used to it. Back when he was rebellious and health-obsessed, this eccentric, eternally hyper mentor—Gai-sensei—had seemed like a wackjob. Yet Naruto had long since realized that beneath the manic energy was someone genuinely invested in his growth.
Tightening the laces on his gloves and popping in his mouthguard, Naruto shook off the memory and hopped into the ring. His veins thrummed with adrenaline, each beat echoing the anticipation for the long, grueling match ahead. The bell rang, sharp and metallic, heralding a storm of fists, sweat, and flying spit.
But Naruto was ready. He slipped into the strategy he and Gai had meticulously planned. The first seven rounds would be all defense, using calculated dodges, subtle counters, and enough controlled aggression to score points. The final five rounds, however, were his time to unleash the storm—the “Red Storm” he’d earned the nickname for.
At first, it worked. He ducked and weaved, landed careful body shots, and protected his face. But his opponent—a mountain of muscle with the stamina of a kangaroo—proved relentless. No opening, no weakness, and as if to add insult to injury, Naruto’s fleeting lapse in concentration earned him a sharp black eye.
As the rounds ticked by and the short breaks buzzed by with the bell’s shrill call, Naruto focused, letting instinct guide him. Sakura had once called him a “ninja” after seeing his moves, and right now, that agile body of his was proving its worth.
Finally, the opening appeared. With a surge of energy, he executed the Bolo punch: a deceptive swing that feigned a heavy hook, then pivoted into a precise lead-hand strike. The crowd roared. His opponent stumbled, dazed, and Naruto pressed the advantage, landing the finishing TKO with every ounce of strength he had left.
Victory. The golden trophy gleamed in his hands as the audience’s cheers washed over him. His black eye throbbed, but for the first time in hours, he allowed himself a grin.
Gai-sensei, in typical fashion, lunged forward and enveloped him in a crushing hug. Naruto grimaced but returned a stiff squeeze, extricating himself before suffocation set in.
“That was more than I hoped for! You’ve grown so strong, Naruto!” Gai-sensei gushed, eyes sparkling and moist.
“Gai-sensei, I’m too tired for this today. Can we postpone the celebration?” Naruto replied, already sensing the futility.
The man shook his head vigorously, looping his arm through Naruto’s. “No such thing as too tired for a victory party! Drinks! Food! Dancing! You’ve earned it, my spectacular pupil!”
Naruto groaned, trying to protest. “Um… maybe a sane sensei would value my, you know… life and energy.”
But the crowd—Gai’s ever-present entourage of free-spirited friends—cheered louder, voices promising alcohol and scantily clad women. Naruto’s objections disappeared under the cacophony, and like every time before, he found himself swept away in the whirlwind of his mentor’s celebration.
He let out a dramatic moan, the sound swallowed instantly by the raucous cheers. Tomorrow, he knew, would be brutal. But for now, victory was intoxicating enough.
"If you think I'd even lift a finger to help your drunken ass out of there, then you're dreaming!"
Naruto’s glazed, bloodshot eyes flicked toward the furious ghost hovering above him. For no discernible reason, he let out a giggle that would’ve embarrassed a schoolgirl—and nearly made the invisible vein in the ghost’s translucent temple pop.
"You said ‘lift a finger,’” the ghost snorted, a dark smirk playing on his ethereal lips. “But how do you plan to lift a finger when you’ll just pass straight through me?”
That set off full-blown hysterical laughter from the blond, echoing off the steamy bathroom walls. The sound made the ghost grit his teeth, hovering dangerously close to breaking his solemn promise. Here was a human who had decided, while black-eyed and dead-drunk, that hopping into a tub of steaming water—clothes strewn across the floor—and calling for help was a brilliant idea.
“You know what? Go fuck yourself!” the ghost barked, voice sharp and exasperated.
“D-don’t swear, man! You look better without cursing,” Naruto hiccupped through his giggles, his tone cheerfully oblivious to the looming threats.
“I don’t give a flying fuck what you think! I’m leaving, and if you die somewhere, don’t expect me to care about your stupid corpse!”
With a golden trail of sparkles, the ghost vanished, leaving Naruto giggling uncontrollably in the watery chaos. He was utterly intolerant of alcohol’s effects, and once drunk, he became a tornado of carelessness and irritatingly sunny optimism. Despite the sticky, wet mess surrounding him, more giggles forced their way past his lips.
Across the apartment, Sasuke—the ethereal, perpetually annoyed ghost—floated in quiet frustration. Giggles, crashes, and the occasional thump reached his finely tuned ears, each one a painful reminder of why humans were simultaneously entertaining and infuriating. By the rules of their living arrangement, he wasn’t obliged to help the blond in his drunken misadventures. And yet…
The giggles finally subsided. An eerie calm filled the air—a rare, almost sacred silence that hadn’t graced the apartment in three weeks. Sasuke’s mind ticked: three weeks since this idiot had barged into his life, claiming the apartment as a joint residence. For all he cared, the blond could die in a puddle of his own vomit and soap, and it wouldn’t matter.
But the silence… it was unsettling.
Curiosity, not worry, pulled Sasuke toward the bathroom. He didn’t feel anxious or humanly concerned—those emotions were long since discarded—but he needed to see why the blond’s chaos had ceased so abruptly. Perhaps an enemy? Or worse… the idiot had finally succeeded in hurting himself.
What he saw made him pause. Naruto lay entangled in a ridiculous, drunken mess, half-submerged in warm water, soap floating lazily around him, with hair products forming an impromptu, sticky crown. For the first time in an age, Sasuke’s lips twitched in something resembling a smile. It wasn’t real joy—his heart had long forgotten human emotions—but it was as close to amusement as he could manage.
“You’ve got to be the stupidest human I’ve ever seen,” he muttered softly, unheard by anyone but the moonlight spilling through the bathroom window.
With a flick of his delicate, glowing fingers, Sasuke righted the blond, placing him gently back in the tub. A bar of soap floated to Naruto’s grasp, a scrubbing brush followed, and warm streams of water cascaded perfectly. He directed the mop and bucket to clean the spilled chaos, then effortlessly floated the exhausted boxer to his bed, dressing him in pajamas with precision.
Moonlight caught the contours of Naruto’s tanned, bruised face, softening even Sasuke’s hard gaze. He tugged the comforter over the sleeping figure, the room quiet except for the faint hum of the night.
Leaning close, he whispered, his voice cold yet intimate:
“The one who rescued your stinking ass from drowning in your own vomit tonight… was your ‘Aoi-chan.’ Just so you know, my name is Sasuke. And if you don’t want to die tomorrow, you’d better remember it…”
Thank you! Awaiting your reviews and kudos!