The King's Servant

-Chapter 9-

-Naruto's POV-

It was exactly 3 o'clock in the morning. The sun wasn't even up yet and Rock Lee had us up to participate in our punishment. I had to take part in this even though I was not there because at the end of the day, I do not get special privileges for being the right-hand man. I scanned the area and all the servants looked tired. I felt the exact same way.

The only one who was energized out of everyone here was Rock Lee, unsurprisingly. He was doing his stretches, like it was any other day. I mean to him, this is probably just a warm up! I could feel his energy from here. 

"Good morning, everyone! Today we're going to walk the perimeter of the borders, in the name of YOUTH!!" Rock Lee cheered. Everyone else groaned.

Nevertheless, we all got on our hands and started the punishment. His majesty always made us do the border since it was rocky. Walking the perimeter on my hands hurt, but that never stopped me. 

By the time I was a quarter of the way around, my hands were hurting and it had felt like I had been doing it for hours. It had only been maybe 25 minutes? However long it was, it was torture. Rock Lee was taking the lead, running on his hands. I really hoped we wouldn't have to do that. It's not like I don't exercise often, it's just that I don't do this type of stuff.

The people around me were struggling just as bad as I was, maybe even worse. Some were sweating a lot, some were red, some had just given up and laid on the ground. But of course that just means 100 more laps for them. One day, I swear his majesty is going to get karma for this.

----o-o----

I finally did a lap, the sun was starting to rise. I felt like I was going to die. My arms were shaking and my hands were bleeding from sharp rocks. I could not believe Rock Lee did this daily, just for fun!

We were taking a short 5 minute break. He was still exercising the whole way through. Tier three is the absolute worst. I was hungry and I was really thirsty. I wanted to go do something more interesting, like drinking tea or watering the black roses. 

"Ninety-nine more to go, you all can do it in the name of YOUTH! Youth will empower you to go even longer than that!!" Rock Lee exclaimed.

"But," He said "Instead of on your hands, how about just your index fingers!?"

Us workers were already exhausted and he wants us to do this on our index fingers? This is preposterous. But we couldn't even say no, this is why this is worse than any beating the king gives us.  

I tried to balance my body on my index fingers. I really hope I don't break my fingers. I was not build for this type of thing, or was I? I mean I am a jinchuriki after all. I could break into my powers, but that is forbidden by the king and I don't want to get punished more. 

Round two of one hundred, here I go. The weather was windy and that made me feel like a brittle leaf in the air. It hurt a lot, all this pressure in my fingers, but I must keep going. 

-----o-o-----

So I went for the next ninety-eight rounds of torture. it went from index fingers, to pinkie fingers, to blindfolded, and so much more. By the time we were finally finished, six days had gone by. Of course, we were given food and water occasionally. But the hunger I felt was excruciating. We get two days off to recover, until the next round of torture.

I felt blessed laying down in bed. His majesty didn't ask anything of me for those two days. He was not in the kingdom the two days us servants had to rest. I sort of miss him, but that's just because of my loyalty to him, nothing else. When I am with him I feel complete. I know he's done some horrible things in the past, but I forgive him.

Somethings are kind of blurry when I think of memories but I am sure that they will come back eventually. In fact, I don't know where I got this scar on my head from. I'm sure his majesty would have known, since he was the first person I saw when I noticed that there was this scar on my head. I feel like he knows something. 

----o-o----

After the two days had passed, I had to take part in another exercise. It was swimming in the deepest darkest ocean for six days. It was cold and my clothes were weighing me down. We had only been dry when they would make us come out for food and water. It was just as horrible as the other one, maybe worse. My arms and legs felt numb when I was done with this exercise. Some people had quit, just to get away from the punishment. This was the only time it was acceptable in the kings eyes, it just brought him amusement I guess. 

The next two days I had off were spent cleaning, the castle was dirty from no one being in the castle to help. I felt a lot of stress throughout the whole thing. How I had that endurance, I don't know.

The third exercise that we did for the next six days was climbing up the highest mountain in the kingdom. Of course it was dangerous, but they made sure that we were safe, sort of. Doing the third one was especially hard because I felt numb everywhere. When I reached the top, the view I saw was amazing. The next two days were spent resting.

The last one, we did yoga and meditation in the cold. Rock Lee encouraged us to be youthful, and said that the people that lasted so long are the most youthful ones out of the bunch. Little did he know, I felt half dead. The last one was by far the least painful one. 

-----o-o-----

Shortly afterwards, King Sasuke called off the rest of the punishment. I was surprised, and relieved. If I had to go through one more exercise, I would have passed out. Less than half of our staff were gone, but I knew he would get some new ones almost immediately. 

Of course, I went into the kitchen to grab some tea. I felt like I didn't drink anything refreshing for ages. I went out to the garden and I saw him, his majesty. He was staring right at me. I was startled by the sight of him. I bowed, showing my respect.

"Good evening, your majesty." I said.

"Come, sit." He replied.

I was mad at him, what was so bad on that report?! I wanted to kick him right in his royal behind.

"I'm guessing you're wondering why I made you go through this mess?" He asked, with an annoying smirk.

"Yeah, you royal bastard!" I snapped back.

He laughed right in my face. I was fuming, red as a tomato. Steam was coming out of my ears.

"It was her," He answered "Sakura."

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Hi everyone! I can't believe it's been a year. I decided to make two chapters today, so watch out for chapter 10! Reading through the comments made me feel motivated to write a chapter. But since I felt as if one chapter won't be even close to enough to write for all of you, I am writing two. I am so appreciative of everyone who likes this story :)

(P.S. If I get any extra time, I swear I will try to write more chapters!)