Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto! Uncle T owns dis story! Yeaaah!
Enjoy people...
Chapter I-The Sleepless Nights
Two and a half years have passed. Naruto had failed to save his best friend, Uchiha Sasuke. Twice.
The first attempt resulted in many casualties and a broken promise. The second attempt caused him an even deeper sadness as he once, again couldn't keep his promise, to Haruno Sakura. Naruto became insomniac ever since. He couldn't sleep anymore. Even to close his eyes and pretend sleeping won't work.
"Another long night…" the blond genin muttered as he closed his eyes.
Thoughts started to gather in said genin's mind. Memories started to stir inside him, both good and bad memories.
"Never thought I'd experience this kind of pain… It feels somewhat like before, but… stronger…" Naruto sighed and took a sip of tea.
Every night, Naruto would not be able to sleep ever since he failed the mission. Every night, he would have flashbacks of his life. Every night, he would spend it drinking on his rooftop while reminiscing and looking toward the moon.
"Nowadays, the villagers don't really look at me with hatred anymore; instead they just ignore me… I guess I should be thankful for it… or… anyway, I almost forget… kampai, tsuki…" Naruto raised his cup of tea to the sky and then took another sip.
Every night, before he starts to have flashbacks, he would raise his cup and have a 'drink' with the moon. However, tonight will be a bit different, or so he thought.
"Hmm, putting the villagers aside… I think even those that I used to call my friends are starting to avoid me as well… or it's just my imagination I don't know… Maybe I should leave the village like Sasuke? Hell, he did get stronger… not only Sasuke, but Itachi and Orochimaru as well… But I don't know… I feel a strong connection with this village…" he stared at the moon as if he was talking to it.
"Then again, if no one really acknowledges me after all I've done… I guess it's futile to try further, no? Aah, maybe I should just be like Ero-sennin? Going around gathering information? At least that way I won't have to stay in this village but still be connected in a way… Hey, I guess that's not a bad idea…" Naruto took another sip before grinning widely at the moon.
Then a soft thud shook the blue eyed ninja out of his thoughts as he looked at the source of the sound. He didn't feel any threatening presence but a familiar one instead so he just turned his head around lazily.
"Out drinking again, Naruto?" a tall figure said behind Naruto while the blond genin just shrugged and smirked, "well you know the routine, Ero-sennin… Care to join?"
Naruto offered an empty cup at said tall Sannin which he took, sat beside Naruto and poured some tea for himself.
"So, what's on your mind tonight?" Jiraiya took a sip while the blond took his time to reply.
"Nothing much… pretty much same as usual… Ah, but I did get an interesting idea a while ago…" Naruto smiled at Jiraiya before said master asked him again, "Hoo, and what would a stupid blond genin have in mind? I bet it's something perverted, no?" a grin was formed on his face.
"Hell no! I already told you that I'm not like you!' Naruto retorted while Jiraiya just smirked, "well, as I was saying… I was thinking if I should become a Sennin…"
"Hoo, that's unexpected… never thought you would have an interest in being a Sennin, Naruto" the white haired man looked at him with a smile.
"I'm not…" Naruto replied resting his head on his hand.
"Then?" Jiraiya asked confused.
"It's just that…"
"What?"
"Well… you know I've been insomniac ever since that day", Jiraiya nodded and took a sip as he kept facing Naruto. "Well, it's not really the point now, what I mean is that… I'm starting to think about… stuffs…"
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! What the hell?! I thought it was something serious but here I am, hearing you saying that you were thinking about some 'stuffs'! Hahaha, it's hilarious!"
"Uh… Ero-sennin… I'm not done yet, but are you misunderstanding what I mean by any chance?" Naruto raised an eyebrow looking slightly annoyed at Jiraiya.
"Well of course I understand what you mean, as a matter of fact, I understand perfectly well! It's not your fault Naruto… a young boy… thinking about those stuffs… It's fine! Perfectly FINE I tell you!" Jiraiya said proudly with a grin.
"Uh, I don't think it's normal to think like that, Ero-sennin… And I am sure you misunderstood…"
"What? What do you mean? Of course I am not misunderstanding anything… We're talking about those stuffs right? Like for example, how you would your first time to feel like…" Naruto let out a blush upon hearing that and yelled at Jiraiya.
"WHAT?! N-NO Y-YOU…! Baka Ero-sennin!! That's not what I'm talking about dattebayo!" Naruto could feel his cheeks becoming redder due to embarrassment.
"WH-what?! Then what were you talking about?" Jiraiya closed his ears to protect them from Naruto's loud yelling.
"W-well (cough) as I was saying… I am starting to think that… perhaps… I'm being hated once again and… uh, I wanted to leave the village as often as possible, that's why…" Naruto looked down after taking his composure back and took another sip of his cup.
"Wha-?! What do you mean, 'hated'? Of course you're not hated… what makes you think that?!" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at Naruto as he felt the seriousness in the air.
"Well for instance… I can sense the villagers ignoring my presence… everywhere I go, it seems as if… I'm invisible to them… nobody took notice of me…"
"Naruto…" the white haired Sannin looked worried.
"Not only that… I'm also starting to think that… for some reason…they started to avoid me as well…" Naruto closed his eyes and took a sip of his tea.
"They?They who?"
"Those people that I call friends all my life…" he raised his voice a little causing Jiraiya to flinch a little, "what do you mean?"
"For instance, Sakura's being the most noticeable amongst the others… she never really punches me anymore… she also talks less and less with me nowadays… and she clearly avoids my regards…"
"N-Naruto…" Jiraiya was becoming very worried.
"Then there's this bastard Sai who's not only socially-clueless, but also a dick to begin with… well, at least being a dick is still better than being distant… Then Shikamaru, Kiba, and Chouji… people that had been with me in the past, friends that have always covered my back… they definitely started to change their attitude to me… they're… colder…"
"Naru-…"
"Not only them, but also Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-taichou, and Iruka-sensei… They even barely speak to me now… They only speak to me when it's something important or urgent or if it concerns missions…" an angry Naruto made Jiraiya feels uneasy.
"Na-…" Jiraiya tried to calm the blond genin down but he got cut off once again.
"Then last but not least… Tsunade-baachan… I never thought she'd do something like this…" tears started to fall down as it got Jiraiya's full attention.
"Tsunade?" the white haired Sannin asked confused, "what did she do?"
"… nothing much… she just took my status of shinobi off… she scrapped me off the active shinobi list" Jiraiya was shocked.
"S-she didn't…" he could only stare at Naruto who was smiling sadly while tears kept on falling down.
"Well unfortunately she did… she told me that it's for my well-being… so I just obeyed and gave her my hitai-ate back… I guess I'm just a normal civilian now…" Naruto turned his head to face the shocked Sannin and found his mentor to stare at him in disbelief.
"N-Naruto… There… There must be a reason why Tsunade did that, yes… I don't believe Tsunade's the type that would do that with that 'it's for your well-being' pathetic excuse of a reason… Yes, listen… why don't I go and see her and ask why she did it, alright?" Jiraiya stood up and looked at his student with a worried expression. Naruto just replied with a grin.
"Ii yo, Ero-sennin… you don't have to do something troublesome like that… I'll be fine… they won't kill me anyway… also, as long as I stay quiet they'll let me do pretty much whatever I want in my house…" Naruto glanced at the moon.
"Naruto…"
"Anyway, Ero-sennin… I'll be heading off to train for a bit… Shake some things off… so… thanks for the company…" Naruto stood up and stretched his muscles. He smiled and his usual cheerful expression was back on his face.
"Well then, Ero-sennin… Ja mata ne!" Naruto flashed a grin before jumping to a nearby building.
Jiraiya was dumbfounded. But he quickly regained his composure and headed straight toward the Hokage tower, he wanted a straight answer from his fellow teammate. "Tsunade, you better have an explanation for this…" Jiraiya thought as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop.
Meanwhile in another direction, Naruto was still having his cheerful expression on while his inside was crumbling faster than a melting ice on the desert.
"Mou… it was foolish to talk about it with Ero-sennin… I'm giving him more burden and worry than he already has…I'll have to apologize to him when morning comes…"
After he landed on the ground, he looked around and headed toward a tall tree. He rummaged through the bushes looking for something which he found not long after.
"Hehe, with this… I'll be alright…" Naruto thought as he let out a small smile and chuckled. "Well then, I guess I should get starting…"
At the Hokage Tower,
BAM!
A loud bang was heard from the Hokage's office. Jiraiya just hit the table, clearly showing his anger. Tsunade just sat leaning on her chair staring at him with a hint of annoyance.
"…What is it, Jiraiya?" her voice showed her annoyance.
"…Why?" the tall Sannin asked ignoring her annoyance.
"Why what?"
"Why did you take Naruto off the force? What's the reason behind it? What's your purpose?"
"So you know…" Tsunade folded her hands together and moved toward her desk, hiding half her face behind her folded hands.
"Yes. I just had a talk with him a few minutes ago and…" Jiraiya started but Tsunade cut him off.
"THE REASON… why I did it… was because I HAD to…"
"…What do you mean?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow.
"That kid… before he failed that mission, you remembered he had an ANBU root member with him?" Tsunade looked at Jiraiya questioningly, "… Yes"
"Well that ANBU Root member reported to Danzou everything and ever since he failed his mission but also lost control of his Kyuubi chakra, the upper ups saw that as proof that Naruto is unstable… Hence, with the majority vote between the elders, they decided to scrap Naruto off Konoha's active Shinobi list and to put that kid under ANBU surveillance 24/7, but they are still discussing on the last one though…" Tsunade glared angrily toward her desk while Jiraiya could only stare at her.
"… What?" Jiraiya sweat dropped in disbelief.
The next morning, Naruto had just finished his training and was heading out to Ichiraku Ramen as usual; however he stopped halfway as he suddenly remembered that he had to apologize to Jiraiya. He decided to skip Ichiraku for now and come back later. Ichiraku Teuchi was one of the people that doesn't ignore Naruto and was still in a friendly terms with said genin. That's something that relieved Naruto greatly as he was starting to get rejected not only by the villagers but also his fellow shinobi.
Naruto ran toward the Hokage tower hoping to see his mentor there, but he ran into Sakura instead. He was about to turn around and avoid her when the pink haired girl took notice of the blonde genin and called him.
"Uzumaki Naruto" the blue eyed shinobi stopped on his track and turned around slowly, his face starting to sweat, he didn't want to see her face to face. "…A-Ah, S-Sakura-san… O-ohayou…" he forced a smile.
For quite some time now, Naruto had always addressed Sakura with a –san and not –chan anymore. Sakura didn't take notice of it however and passed it as if nothing happened.
"You are not a shinobi anymore, so you can't strap your shuriken holster and kunai pouch. Give it to me, they're confiscated" She said, not even greeting Naruto back and raised her hand.
"Wh-what?! B-but, Sakura-san… Can't you like… I mean… I'm sorry I forgot, it's already a habit you see… and uh, can't you like… let it go for now, I swear I won't strap in anymore… pretty please?" Naruto pleaded her ex-teammate but she didn't seem to care, her green eyes didn't show any mercy.
"I'll take Naruto's shuriken holster and kunai pouch…"
The sudden voice surprised both shinobi as they turned their heads toward the source of the voice, which was none other than Jiraiya himself.
"Jiraiya-sama!" Sakura quickly bowed and greeted him, while Naruto stayed silence. "I'm sorry Jiraiya-sama. But I believe laws are laws, we can't let civilian have hold of weapons in public… even more an ex-shinobi…" her eyes looked downward while Jiraiya glanced at the blond.
"It's alright, Haruno Sakura. I'll tell Tsunade later. By the way, I think she's looking for you… you'd better go… now" Jiraiya said lying on the last part as Sakura bowed once again and ran toward her master's office.
"Ero… Sennin…" Naruto mumbled as he walked closer to his mentor.
"Naruto… pack your things, now. Pack everything you hold dear. I'll see you at the gate in an hour. Now go!" The toad sennin told him and then disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving the blond surprised, "…Eh?!"