Ten slashes (revised version)

Yeah…sorry guys…about the REALLY long wait, but now its' revised so enjoy, you deserve it! Please note that I do not own Naruto. And this is an alternate universe. ^_^ I do not own Naruto…but hey it wouldn't be a bad thing if I did. ^_-

Preface:

Naruto looked through the window of the classroom. Already half an hour into class and he was sick of it. What good was History in the real world anyway? Sighing, he forced himself to glace at his notebook—not that there was anything to look at. Staring down at his binder paper, drawn on top of his ineligible jot notes were sketches of his own imagination. Proud of himself, he couldn't stop from grinning.

"Mr. Uzamaki, would you mind telling me what part of the bombing of WWII you find so amusing?" Naruto's teacher, Nakamura-sensei asked. As a few students bent over, snickering. Naruto scowled to himself for letting his concentration break, but it was so hard. History just didn't click. Naruto stood up and thought of an excuse.

"Sorry sensei," Naruto said slowly, carefully thinking of a sensible answer. "But…uh…." Naruto couldn't think of anything. Nakamura-sensei walked curtly towards Naruto.

"Naruto," She spoke with velvet like voice. "Please sit down and see me after class." As Naruto blinked, Nakamura-sensei walked towards her desk. Naruto slowly sat down. He huffed at his staring peers and looked outside once more. He was always getting into trouble, but how could he help it if he only had an attention span of ten minutes?

Naruto was an average kid. 15 and in grade 10. He had a 'cool' look as he wore the stylish fashion and his bright yellow hair shot up naturally. He attend all classes—no matter how boring they were, like history and he did extremely well in English—as for the rest of the subjects, he did satisfactory. But his best was never enough. He could never become better in the subjects and that's when art was introduced to him, well he found it by himself, but in a few weeks he noticed that art was one of his talents. And so he took refuge in art so that he did not have to look for protection in humans. Humans, as he knew could not be trusted as one day they were your best friend and another, they were backstabbing you. Naruto was always careful not to get too close to people, but with that, paid a price, a price of loneliness.

Naruto was now focused and looked back at his teacher. He opened his book and read what was ordered on the blackboard. The room was now dead silent. He skimmed the first line, but the words his brain translated turned into gibberish. He couldn't concentrate—it was too quiet. A buzzing noise from the silence was hurting him. Was this class ever going to end?

And then he heard it.

It was a noise everyone knew, the sound of a gun being fired. Naruto snapped around and glared towards the door. Nakamura-sensei, who was in shock managed to lock the door. Everyone knew this wasn't a fake drill. His classmates were beginning to panic. Fear rang through each of their voices. But the voices echoed through his head. He tried to understand it, but nothing made sense. Murmurs were in the hallway; a cry in pain and then it was quiet again. Everyone was too scared to move.

'Well, I'm not.' Naruto thought and got up to move. Nakamura-sensei, who had back to her old self, stood in front of Naruto and shock her head. She creped to the phone, which was connected to the main office. "Hello?" she whispered. "I heard-" she began.

"Yes. Okay. They are? What? No! No! That's not-! Oh God!" she whispered, clearly mortified. She dropped the phone and made her way back to her desk. Police sirens could be heard outside of the school, but Naruto paid no attention to that. He walked directly to the teacher.

"Nakamura-sensei? What's wrong?" Naruto asked. He saw the fear dance through her eyes and the tears that were forming. Finally she looked up, shaking to Naruto and the rest of the class. "Sasuke Uchiha…has been…murdered."

Chapter 1: Investigate

Naruto stood there for a moment of two to try and get a hold to what his teacher was telling him. Sasuke…Sasuke Uchiha was DEAD?! Was she serious? Blinking Naruto thought to himself. 'No, it can't be…he was the best student in our grade…he was going to go to the best university…and…I…I was going to be his rival.'

"No…" Naruto gasped, with a horrified look on his face. He blinked and then dashed out into the hall.

"Naruto wait!" Nakamura-sensei called out, but Naruto was far away even from her yells. He angrily wiped the stupid tears from his eyes and ran on making his way to the science department. That was what Sasuke had during this time. He slowed down when he thought he saw something that looked like mud, shaking his head, he then realized it was blood, though it was darker because of it came from the arteries.

Damn.

It was bad.

Naruto moved closer, looking for Sasuke, looking for his body. But he couldn't find it. Damn it, where was his body?! Grinding his teeth he looked up to see a police officer of some sort looking down at him. He was wise, and the currently best-known police officer. His silver spiky hair hung casually over the right side, his arms were crossed and the navy mask that covered his face hide his emotions. Kakashi Hatake was his name.

"So…" He began, in a somewhat serious voice, but then again, that was another reason he was so well known. He was always cool, never too panicky.

"Where is he? Where's Sasuke!?" Naruto yelled out. Blinking, Kakashi studied the character in front of him. Naruto Uzamaki, the most bizarre person attending high school. He had a reputation of a poor, ill-mannered, snobbish kid that went his own way. He did things his own way. Sometimes with the rules, sometimes not. He was a peculiar kid and though many adults looked down on his, some thought that he might be one the brightest in a long time.

"Listen Naruto." Kakashi began. "Sasuke's body had to be taken away, to be investigated."

"I-I don't believe you! Why was he killed, who killed him?!" Naruto said, banging on Kakashi vest. "Damn it!"

"Hey…" Kakashi said grabbing Naruto's angry fists, "I know you're mad, he was your rivals, and rivals are very important in today's society…they, how shall you say, make you shine in a certain way. He was murdered, Naruto." Kakashi said quickly, avoiding the gaze of Naruto's teary eyes. "He was cut, ten times with a samurai sword. No one was there when it happened and I believe that his body was moved to the location of the school," Naruto looked up at him, gathering as much information as possible.

"According to the attendance, Sasuke was not present for period one science, as well, he was not present last night at his house. His parents thought that he was over at one of his friends, but when they called each one, no one knew where Sasuke was. We believe it may lead to his missing older brother, Itachi, who is a suspected member of the mafia group. We don't know very much, but that's all we do know." He ruffled Naruto's hair. "I—hey, Naruto. I know he was a close friend to you as well, though you never showed it, you admired Sasuke, but pretending to hate him, so that he would notice you. He was very popular and you weren't. The differences between you were great, but there were some things that were not so great. I guess. I've told you beyond what I should have, actually I don't think they told his parents this much. So I need to you be content. Go back to you're class and just leave it for the police to take care of."

Naruto stood there, and turned away. He wanted to say something to Kakashi, but he had no idea what. He just wanted to talk to someone who understood his pain, who didn't look at his as a bratty kid or a pest. But it was foolish just to stand there. Naruto began to shuffle along.

"Thanks, Kakashi. It helped to ease the pain and shock a little." Naruto whispered.

"No problem, just go." Kakashi said coolly. Naruto looked back and nodded then ran towards his classroom. Truth be told, he had no intentions of returning to history or Nakamura-sensei; he just went that way to make Kakashi believe he was okay. He was not okay. Sasuke was murdered and he himself was pretty sure it had to be connected to Itachi.

Itachi Uchiha.

That name seemed send Goosebumps across Naruto's arms. He was feared back in the day, even at school. IT was like there was always an evil aura around him. He talked very little to anyone, but excelled at everything. He was brilliant, yet untouchable and with the knowledge he had…he had to turn bad. He gave everything to the mafia. He was a disgrace to all the Uchiha's and it was especially hard to Sasuke. People's minds remain the same, judgmental about everything. They judged Sasuke before he had a chance to prove himself. They ignored him, shunned him and looked down on him. It wasn't until high school when people began to have a different view on Sasuke. He was considered cool as he himself disregarded his brother. As far as he was concerned, he was an only child. Could that be why Itachi would come out of his secret way and kill him? Could that really upset the mafia?

What the heck was he thinking? There were so many unanswered questions. But he knew that he was going to figure it out before the police would have a chance to. He knew Sasuke better than most people, which included his fan club. A perfect opportunity to show everyone his true colours. He reached the back door and pushed it open and continued to run into the small forest that backed onto the school. He leaned against a tree and allowed the cool air to fill his lungs. Where would he begin? Kakashi believe that Sasuke was dragged from somewhere else…but where. Not his home for sure…Sasuke was not there according to Kakashi and besides, the police would have it surrounded. Then…right…sometimes Sasuke went to the park, to clear his minds on things. He remembers following Sasuke late at night and watching him watching in the reflection of the pond in the middle of the park. He would often stay there for hours, probably clearing his mind of who knows what. It was like his sanctuary where no one would bother him. Naruto thought he should start there. Just when he was about to leave he heard something behind him.

"Who's there?" Naruto barked. This was no time for hide and seek. Slowly, Shikamuru, one of his classmates, emerged.

"What-" Naruto began.

"I'm here to help you, you see, I have some connections with Sasuke as well."