Disclaimers: I do not own Naruto or a majority of the characters in this story.

Naruto Uzumaki was never really sure of anything: from the whereabouts of his parents murderers to simple algebraic expressions- he always found himself lost. At the moment, however, he suddenly found himself very sure of one thing. And that was that his face stung like all hell. He stared ahead at the boy standing in front of him, eyes slit in a glare. The boy just shook his hand as if he were the one that was hurt. He even had the gall to look Naruto in the eyes and smirk.

"That does it! I'm kicking your ass!" Naruto growled out as he sprung into action. This was not the first time Naruto had been in a fist fight- nor would it be the last. His body moved on its own accord, dodging and blocking and occasionally making contact with its opponent.

There was a loud crack as his fist collided with the other's face and Naruto withdrew his hand, blowing on his now bleeding knuckles. Great. I grazed his teeth… He grimaced as he looked down at the blood trickling from his fist.

The man in front of him was a bit worse for wear, where Naruto only had what he assumed was a large bruise on his face, and a few cuts and bumps elsewhere. His combatant was now, quite noticeably, missing a tooth.

"You'll pay for that!" He spat, blood flying out as he yelled.

"Yeah, yeah. That's what they always say." Naruto mumbled, raising his fists as the man once again started to charge towards him.

Naruto had never been more grateful for the karate lessons Iruka had insisted he take a few years prior. Apparently, Iruka had cleaned up the aftermaths of Naruto's fights (which were more like beatings, as they were mostly one sided) one too many times before he decided it was high time Naruto learned some self defense.

The blond landed a hook into the other's side before swiftly stepping back. Swinging his leg upwards, he efficiently kicked the teen straight in the jaw, shuddering at the loud "SNAP" noise it produced.

He watched as the tall figure in front of him recoiled, grasping their chin.

"You bitch! You broke my jaw," he cried.

The next thing he knew he was on his back with his opponent on top of him, fist poised and ready to punch. Grunting as the awaited punch made contact with his face, his head recoiling and hitting against the pavement, hard.

He pushed his left knee up in an attempt to knock the man off of him but the world was reeling. When that didn't work, Naruto simply grabbed the brown haired man's collar and reversed their positions.

His adrenaline spiked when he saw the man reaching for his pocket, fearing it might be a knife or worse- a gun. Remembering the last time he had had an encounter with knife, a shiver of fear raced down his spine. He let the feelings of blood lust and fear take control until he couldn't feel or see anything, lost in the fight. He came back to his senses after a sickening crack filled the air. Apparently, while in his daze he had pulled the man up by his collar and then shoved him back down, knocking his head against the pavement and sufficiently knocking him out.

Rolling off of him, Naruto laid on his back, thinking about the events that had just transpired. It had been awhile since he had last let himself go completely to the blood lust. Iruka's not going to like this… he thought, pulling himself up from amongst the piles of trash in the dirty alley. He leant over his now knocked out foe and pressed his ear to their chest, checking for a heartbeat. At the dull sound of a heartbeat, Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. Well, at least I didn't kill him… Now, that, would be bad.

Making his way out of the alley, Naruto decided it would be best to head over to Iruka's and not back home- just yet. He had no idea how he would explain this to Jiraiya. He already had an idea of how it would go down-"I don't know what happened, he was just on me all of a sudden." "Oh, Naruto, this really needs to stop!" "It will I promise," "Good, and you better mean it this time. I'm serious." The blond smirked to himself. It's not that I don't mean it everytime I say it… It's just that the fights find me…And besides, I had an actual reason this time...

Continuing on towards Iruka's house he allowed himself to keep zoning out. Naruto had long since burned every single possible route to the mousy haired mans house into his mind and now he didn't even have to think about it. Making a turn onto 5th and Pine- a street that he knew all too well, the blond walked along as the street lights began to flicker on one by one. He had no idea what time it was (as his phone had died a good few hours ago) but he could tell that it was late by how dark it was and the fact that the street lights were turning on. It was nearing closer and closer to summer and thus, dusk was coming later and later making it impossible to tell how late it was until it was, well, too late to really do much of anything.

Walking up towards the familiar, small, two bedroom house he took in the pale blue color and its, stark, white window frames illuminated in the last few minutes of daylight. His eyes scanned the windows and taking note to the fact that all the lights inside were off, he stopped by the large oak tree that loomed over the white picket fence lining the yard-turned-garden in front of Iruka's house. Standing on his tiptoes, he reached for a spot hidden between two branches. When his fingers pressed against something cold he grasped a hold of it, taking the hidden key before moving along.

Unlocking the front door as quietly as possible, he tried his best to tiptoe so as to not risk awakening the inhabitants of the quiet house. He made his way past the old, beat up couch on which he had spent far too many nights and turned left into the hallway filled with pictures of smiling faces, some his own. By this point- and with how many fights he'd been in- he knew exactly where Iruka kept his bandages and numerous other medical supplies. Making his way to the bathroom he turned the light on, shielding his eyes as a pale yellow light flickered to life, nearly blinding as it lit up the small room. Making sure to close the door behind himself before walking towards the cabinet above the sink he opened it and began looking for some pain killers. Stretching so that he could reach the top shelf he recoiled as he stretched out a particularly sore muscle in his calf. Yelping as his leg suddenly gave out, he slumped ungracefully to the floor and grabbed at his injured leg.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck," he hissed out, rocking back and forth.

The distant light of the hallway flickered to life and the sounds of footsteps echoed down the hallway.

"Naruto?" a familiar voice called.

"Great, just my luck… I woke Iruka up and now he's gonna chew me out" the blond mumbled quietly before replying, "in here!"

The door opened and there was Iruka, clad in his nightwear, hair up in a familiar sloppy bun. "Oh, Naruto… Look at you this time you look like- well, to be honest, you look like shit," the man joked.

"Yeah, well… You should see the other guy, he caught the worse end of it if you ask me." Naruto replied as he hoisted himself onto the toilet. Immediately, Iruka made his way over to begin examining him and his numerous injuries. Gentle fingers caressed his face turning it this way and that to get a good look at his newly formed bruise.

"Can you feel anything? Does it hurt?"

"No. Not yet. I have too much adrenaline in my system- it'll probably hurt like a bitch in the morning though." he winced at the look Iruka gave him at his choice of language. "Sorry." he apologized, halfheartedly.

"It's fine. I'm just glad you don't look too beat up." Iruka always feared that one day Naruto was going to come over, barely hanging onto life and there would be nothing he could do. He really wished Naruto would just stop getting into fights- but, he knew that he wouldn't. It just wasn't in the boys nature to not seek out trouble.

Iruka nearly gasped when he found the state that Naruto's knuckles were in. They were practically shredded and still bleeding. In a flash he was in front of the sink, searching for the bandages and disinfectant he kept in the cabinet under it for situations just like this. The sleepy eyed man began his task of cleaning Naruto up, swiftly covering a cotton swab in alcohol and pressing it against the scrapes.

Naruto let out a slow hiss as his knuckles were cleaned. This had always been his least favorite part and he was relieved when Iruka finally removed the swab and began to wrap his knuckles.

The older man worked in silence for a few minutes cleaning up any cuts he found as he went, relieved when he found his knuckles had been the worst out of them all. He still remembered when Naruto, age 15, had come to him with a severe slash in his side. That had single handedly been one of the most terrifying nights of Iruka's life.

Naruto watched as Iruka sat back to admire his work. He now had several bandages on his chest, face, and his hands- all tied and knotted carefully.

Iruka couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia to the first time this had happened.

Iruka should have been used to Kakashi's antics at this point in his life but honestly, he didn't quite understand why Kakashi had requested 6 bags of rubber bands and a watermelon- but, he wasn't exactly about to ask. He figured he would find out sooner or later anyways. He entered the store and quickly made his way through the isles, first stopping by the fruit section and picking up the largest watermelon he could find. Making his way towards the household items he searched around a bit before finding a few bags of rubber bands. Adding the six bags required in order to satisfy Kakashi to his shopping basket he continued on towards the checkout line. Loading up his few items and ignoring the odd looks from the cashier he paid, collected his things and left the store.

Glad he was at long last heading home, he began to make his way through the desolated parking lot to his car. When he passed by the alley way between the grocery store and the electronic store something caught his attention- the sound of a child crying. He looked around and noticed he was the only person in the parking lot that was near enough to hear the sobs. Ignoring all the stories he had heard of children feigning being hurt as to lure in victims for muggings he dropped the paper bags he was carrying and rushed into the garbage ridden alley.

What he found broke his heart. There, laying on the ground amongst several bags of trash was a beaten and bruised boy no older than what had to be the age of about twelve. He was immediately by the bloodied blond boy's side- checking to see if he was alright. Relief flooded through him when the boy reacted to his arrival his blue eyes opened at slits, to look at him.

Before the child could even get out a word Iruka began to shoot out questions at rapid fire. "Are you okay? Where do you live? Do you have any parents I can call?" he remembered asking. "I should take you to the hospital..."

"Don't," the small figure croaked out.

"What?"

"Don't take me to the hospital… They'll call Jiraiya and I don't want him to know yet…." the boy muttered.

"I have to do something I can't just leave you here…" Iruka said, more to himself than to the boy.

"Then why don't you just fix me up?"

For the third time that day, Iruka let his heart get the best of him. Picking up the young boy he made his way out of the alley and back to the car. When he finally returned home Kakashi began to ask where his watermelon was because he had some work to do. However, all complaints ran flat as soon as he saw what was in Iruka's arm. That one fateful decision would be the start of a relationship that would last for years and years to come.

"Iruka are you alright? You look like you were just in a whole other world," Naruto's voice drifted in, pulling the bedraggled male back from his memories and to the real world. "If you were worrying about me- don't. I've seen far worse. You of all people should know that!" The whiskered teen grinned, eyes filling with life as Iruka looked at him with an almost sheepish face.

"I was actually thinking about the first time we met."

"Oh? What happened then again?"

"You nearly scared me half to death is what happened! Somehow a trip to the grocery store turned into me bringing home a half unconscious twelve year old! I was only 20 I'll have you know! I was in no way prepared for that!" Iruka ranted, swatting at Naruto's arm when he began to giggle at the long haired mans recollection.

"Don't laugh at me, you brat! After all the hard work I just went through for you, this is the thanks I get for being worried!" The brown hair man huffed, standing up and brushing imaginary dirt off of his pants. At that moment, his shirt decided it would be the perfect moment to slip, revealing his shoulder as well as a series of purple bruises.

Smiling even wider, Naruto couldn't help but let out a full blown laugh. "Nice hickies, 'Ruka."

Blushing, Iruka immediately fixed his shirt and averted his eyes, obviously embarrassed. "Yeah, well you should see the other guy."

"Kakashi is here?!"

"Yeah, I think he's still,-" Iruka started only to be cut off by the door opening once more to reveal a sleepy eyed Kakashi with, what could be called, the world's worst bed head. "Speak of the devil…" he finished.

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted before turning to Naruto, "you look like shit."

"Gee, thanks. Has anyone ever told you that you really have a way with words?"

"Once or twice, yeah."

"So, what was the reason this time?" The silver haired man asked, one eye peering at Naruto inquiringly.

"Some guy thought it would be funny to harass this girl. Wouldn't take no for an answer so I decided someone had to show him what he was doing was wrong." Naruto growled out, eyes averted towards the ground.

Iruka gasped and rose a hand to his mouth, eyes softening. "Naruto…."

Kakashi, however, was not as impressed. "You really need to stop getting into fights for such bland reasons. If you ask me-" The Silver haired man was cut off as Iruka pulled him out of the small room by the sleeve, slamming the door on his way out.

Naruto sat on the toilet in wonderment, fragments of a heated conversation coming in through the now closed bathroom door.

"Don't bring that up right now!" Iruka (from what he could tell) yelled.

"The boy has skills it's only-" That was definitely Kakashi talking Naruto deduced.

The talking got more muffled as the pair walked further down the hall and Iruka calmed down more and lowered his voice- most likely to be sure Naruto couldn't hear them talking.

The blond sat in silence, picking at the bandages on his hands and listening intently. He picked up a few keywords and fragments such as "gang", "too young", and "it's not your choice".

Deciding that enough was enough, Naruto got up off of the toilet with a groan. Opening the door he made his way down the small hallway, squeezing past the now quiet couple. Iruka looked quite pissed and Kakashi looked as indifferent as always, his arms crossed behind his head.

Walking towards the couch, Naruto jumped over the back and landed on the cushions with a soft oof as his injuries were disturbed. The old springs creaked under him and he settled in as soft footsteps approached him- most likely Iruka coming to check on him.

His suspicions were confirmed when a soft blanket was placed over him. The footsteps continued and there was suddenly pressure on his legs as something pressed against them.

"Naruto?" Iruka asked from his spot on top of the back of Naruto's legs.

"Mmmmhmm?" Naruto muffled back, his face pressed into the cushions of the old worn down couch.

Iruka sighed and shuffled a little bit, causing Naruto to groan in pain. "Sorry didn't mean to hurt you, but I had to sit somewhere."

Naruto said nothing as he shifted his legs closer to the back of the couch so Iruka could have at least the edge of the cushion to himself. They sat in silence for awhile, listening as Kakashi slowly moved from his spot in the hall to the couch. The silver haired man leaned against the back of the couch the three of them settling into an even deeper silence.

"So…" Iruka began, breaking the silence, "how much did you hear?"

"Not much." Naruto stated, tiredness clear in his tone.

Kakashi began to open his mouth, taking in a breath to start talking but was cut off by a look from Iruka. "That's good. You don't need your head filled with that nonsense."

"It's not nonsense," the one eyed man began again "it's more than that. You of all people should know that."

"But it is!" shouted Iruka, "it's nonsense that Naruto does not need his mind filled with, he's only a junior in highschool…"

"And we were only sophomores. What is your point? If age is the only-"

"It's not and you know it! He's a good kid he doesn't-"

"Hey, not to stop you two when you're just starting but can you please stop yelling about things to do with me when I have no idea what the hell you're talking about? Thanks, that'd be great." The teen grumbled into the pillow, irritation coming off him in waves. All he wanted to do was sleep not listen to the young couple argue and bicker about him of all things.

"Naruto I..." Iruka muttered, his voice suddenly soft.

"The kids right, he should at least know what we're talking about, since it concerns him."

"Kakashi…" Iruka growled, warningly.

"No, Iruka. Let Kakashi talk. I want to hear what he has to say- what has you two fighting like this."

"Fine." He muttered, his jaw clenching in anger. "Tell him."

Kakashi drew in a breath. "Naruto. I want you to join my gang of sorts- you're old enough now to make your own decisions. Plus, there's something I think you'll want to know about and maybe help with."

Naruto's heart race quickened, his eyes widening. He knew it was about a gang but he knew none of the other details. "What kind of 'something?'" he asked, curiosity filling him.

"We know who killed your parents. We've been trying to take a stand against them for some time now but they have us out manned. We need your help."

The blonds blood stopped. His held his breath. Counted the seconds. Thinking what he had just heard was a lie. His parents death was a closed case. They'd been shot in the streets while working on a case. That's all there was to it, it'd been a dead end. Even Jiraiya had no leads on it and he has sources everywhere.

"I'm listening…"

A/N
I'm sorry if this is a bit jumpy, it's my first time writing a story this long in awhile. I'll try to post the next chapter soon, I have bits of it written and planned out already.
Please let me know what you think! Suggestions and requests are always welcomed. I know this is listed as Sasunaru and I'm sorry Sasuke wasn't in this chapter. He'll be there soon. I promise!