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Naturo sat alone in the empty classroom, watching the window outside, waiting for the time to pass when Iruka would come back and tell him detention was over. Naruto had just started at the academy, and somehow, he felt like he'd been there forever it seemed. For once, he had somewhere to be and something to do rather than run from villagers and pull pranks constantly. Not that he didn't still love pranks, but it was just a bit boring after so long.
After what seemed like forever, Naruto saw Iruka walk back into the room with a bunch of papers in his hands. He put them on his desk at the front of the classroom and sat down again. Iruka looked up at Naruto and said, "Naruto, you can go. Hurry home, okay?"
Naruto nodded limply and stood up from his seat. He asked, "Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka looked up at him. "Yes Naruto?"
Naruto asked, "Will I ever graduate?"
Iruka answered with a light smile, "No. You won't."
Naruto's face turned ghost white. "W-What do you mean?"
Iruka sighed and said, "Look Naruto, you're a demon. You'll never do anything good. No matter how hard you try."
The young Naruto's eyes soon filled with horror and disbelief.
Iruka began to laugh as the boy began to panic. Naruto yelled, "You're wrong! I'll prove it! Believe it!"
The laughing got louder and louder as he covered his ears, trying to block out the laughter. Naruto began to scream in frustration and the voices began to flood and control his thoughts. The room around him faded and the thing that filled the empty, black space around him was the laughter in repeat. It rang over and over and over again in a loop.
Naruto woke up and soon realized he had only had a dream. He felt his heart faintly pound, but mostly beating at a normal pace. The young blonde ran his hands over his face and groaned. It was nothing but a nightmare, thankfully. Naruto then realized he had to get up and get ready for his day.
Normally, Naruto would be hungry, but he just shrugged at the lacking of hunger. He got up and began to get dressed. Before he finished putting on his shirt, he started at the healing cuts on his stomach. Normally, they'd heal in a few seconds flat, but when he inflicted the wounds, they stayed like they were normal injuries. Naruto didn't mind, of course, but it did mean he had to be careful how he went about his day and how cautious he was not to let his stomach show.
After the distraction on his stomach was ignored, Naruto finished getting ready and put his headband on. He had his weapons and pouches ready to go. He walked out of his apartmenr early this morning. He locked his apartment door and began to walk to the bridge where he and the rest of Team 7 were supposed to meet up.
The young blonde continued on his way when he began to notice the glares and whispers as he walked down the street.
"Look, its him. What a monster."
"I know, right? Its no wonder he's all alone; nobody wants to befriend a demon like that."
Naruto remained silent as he walked along his normal route to meet his teammates. Naruto never understood why the villagers had to be so horrible to him. Naruto didn't care anymore for answers or defending himself. He stopped caring a long, long time ago. He saw no purpose when it did no good; they still treated him like a monster.
I just don't get it... Why can't they just leave me alone? Is that so much to ask for? I don't know how much more I can take of this, Natuto thought to himself grimly.
He shrugged away the voices and put his hands in his pockets. There was nothing he could do but keep going amd pretend that he didn't hear their voices and that it didn't bother him at all they were degrading him. Naruto walked to the meeting spot to see Sakura waiting with Sasuke. They were early too? What were the odds.
Naruto walked up and said, "Morning, guys!"
His happy, go-lucky attitude was covering up the true Naruto; the remains of a broken child. Somehow, it always seemed to surpass even Kakashi's senses.
Sakura said, "Good morning."
Sasuke just gave him a nod.
While they weren't exactly his "friends", they were all he had close enough to friends. That was all he really wanted; to have friends. Instead, he played Make-Believe with the two teammates he had. Naruto stood across from them on the otherside of the bridge. He couldn't help but feel like someone was watching him from the bushes or something. Naruto tried to shake off the feeling, but it kept coming back again and again.
Eventually, Sakura sighed and said, "Looks like Kakashi-sensei is late again."
Sasuke commented, "Of course he is. He always is."
Natuto silently agreed. He stood again the railing quietly waiting for his sensei to show up. After a while, there was no sign of him still. Sasuke asked, "What the hell are we doing? He's taking forever."
Naruto turned to him and said, "He'll be here soon... Probably."
Sasuke rolled his eyes and huffed. Sakura sighed and looked at the ground, bored. Naruto wondered if they ever felt like he did so many times... Probably not, he concluded.
Jeez, they won't even talk at all. Maybe it's because of me... Yeah, that sounds about right, Naruto thought to himself. The continued silence was concerning to the other two genin. Sakura and Sasuke watched Naruto carefully; something wasn't right about Naruto. Even Sasuke was a little concerned. Aftee a while of waiting in silence, Kakashi apeared from thin air.
He greeted, "Yo."
"Kakashi-sensei, your late again!"
He eye smiled and said, "Oops."
Sakura huffed and Sasuke secretly rolled his eyes. Naruto asked, "So, what are we doing today?"
Kakashi answered, losing his eye smile, "Oh, yeah, about that... We don't really have anything to do after all. So, enjoy your day off."
The three genin were now all annoyed. Naruto was a bit more quiet than usual. Kakashi took note of this and concluded he needed to bring this up with Iruka and Tsunade later. Kakashi asked, "Why so quiet, Naruto?"
The other two genin looked at the blonde. Naruto scratched the back of his head and said, "Ah, I'm fine. I stayed up a little late last night. That's all."
Kakashi almost believed him, Sakura did, but Sasuke didn't for a second. Naruto blinked and realized all three eyes were on him. He wasn't sure why they even cared, but part of him wanted them to care, and the other, wanted to push them far away.
"What?" Naruto asked, playing innocent.
The three other ninja pushed the issue aside and then began to split up. Sakura and Sasuke went towards the woods while Kakashi sat on the railing, reading his orange book. Natuto shoved his hands back into his pocket and began to walk away.
Kakashi suddenly spoke and said, "Wait."
Natuto froze and turned to him. What could he possibly want? Kakashi looked up from his book, eyeing the boy from head to toe. Yep, his body language told the Jonin something was definitely off. Naruto seeemed different from his usual self. Kakashi got off the railing and sighed.
"Alright, Natuto," Kakashi said. "I'll give you this one chance to tell me what's gotten into you lately. Don't lie either."
Naruto's chest began to burn. Should he say something? Or should he just leave it alone? Something inside him longed to admit everything, but it was a small need again a huge need to get the hell away from him and lie.
Natuto decided and answered, "Nothings wrong, Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi's eye narrowed as he watchhed the young boy's body language. He was lying, that much he did know. Kakashi decided to deal with this after his next chat with Iruka and then Tsunade. Kakashi shrugged and said, "Alright, then. You can go."
Naruto nodded and left for home. Naruto didn't feel like his normal training was a good idea, plus, he just wanted to sleep the day away. After all, there was nothing important to do anyway.
Kakashi walked down the street that afternoon to the empty academy after the students had been released to go home for the day. Kakashi walked down the halls to Iruka's classroom and walked into the empty room. Iruka sat his desk with a few papers on it. He looked up as Kakashi walked up.
Kakashi said, "Hey."
Iruka said with a surprised look on his face, "Oh, hey Kakashi. What're you doing here?"
Kakashi walked over and leaned against the wall beside his desk. Iruka turned to him in his chair and Kakashi asked, "Have you talked to Naruto lately?"
Iruka thought for a moment and answered, "Now that you mention it, its been a few days. Why? Is he in trouble?"
Kakashi shook his head and said, "No, nothing like that. He's been acting different."
"Different?"
The gray-haired ninja nodded. "Yeah, he's been quiet lately."
Iruka seemed to freeze for several moments. He finally cleared his throat and asked, "How noticeable is it?"
Kakashi said, "You'd pick up on it, but it's not completely obvious."
"Damnit Naruto," Iruka sighed.
"What's the matter?"
Iruka sighed and said, "He used to get that way when he was in my class, sometimes. As he got older, it got more and more frequent. He used to come in with scrapes and scratches and he'd be fine after that, typically. Sometimes he'd just get so quiet he'd barely talk or goof off. He'd space out and stay that way for a while."
Kakashi's eye widened a little. He asked, "Did you see anything sort of marks that didn't make sense or line up?"
Iruka replied, "Well, yeah, actually. Some of his injuries seemed a little not-so accidental, but he said it was from training, which made sense."
Kakashi tried to put the pieces together, but he was having trouble. Iruka said, "I'll go talk to him soon. In the mean time, I think maybe keeping an eye on his isn't a bad idea if he's acting any more different than usual."
Kakashi nodded. He said, "I'll be looking into it for sure."
Iruka nodded and said, "Let me know if you need anything or want me to talk to him."
Kakashi nodded. With that, Kakashi left without another word. He began to walk towards the door to the classroom. He then decided that he'd need to observe the boy for a short time to prove his now brewing theory correct. The Jonin walked down the halls of the academy and then saw Gai walk by.
Gai smiled and said, "Kakashi, still youthful as ever, my old rival."
Kakashi gave him a nod and Gai noticed the look. Gai asked, "What's the matter?"
Kakashi sighed and stopped walking, as did Gai. Kakashi answered, "It's nothing. Looking into something."
Gai asked intuitively, "Is it about one of your students?"
Kakashi nodded. Gai gave him a nod and said, "Well, if you need any help, let me know. Good luck."
Kakashi nodded and turned away. He walked down the hall with his hands in his pockets. He understood what it was like to be alone. His father died when he was young, he didn't have a mother around, his friends both died, and his sensei died. Kakashi knew what loss was like, what loneliness was and they had been former friends. Kakashi shook the thoughts away and then went to see Tsunade.
"What do you mean, Kakashi?"
"Lady Tsunade, something's going on with Naruto. He's not nearly as hyper, talkative, or lively as he usually is. I can't explain it, but something is off," Kakashi explained.
Tsunade put her hands together and said, "Hmm. I see. Alright then, do what you find nessecary to look after Naruto. Don't let him go astray."
Kakashi nodded. Tsunade said, "I want details of his behavior, injuries, fights, I want you to tell me everything you find useful about his day-to-day life. Understood?"
Kakashi nodded. "Yes."
Tsunade looked puzzled and curious. She asked, "Have a theory yet?"
Kakashi looked at her and said, "Well, he doesn't have a whole lot of people he can rely on. He has friends, but before graduation, he had no friends. I talked to Iruka earlier about Naruto's past history."
Tsunade got the run down of what Iruka told Kakashi and she asked, "Do you know what this means?"
Kakashi said calmly, "I have a theory. I don't like it, but I think I'm right."
Tsunade had a knowing look in her eyes. She said, "Alright, well, gather evidence."
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Hey guys! I hope you liked the chapter, I know it's kinda short, but I'll try to update a lot. What did you guys think? Comment your thoughts. Thank guys!
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