Title: Silenced

Author: eternal radiance

Rating: pg13 (for now)

Pairings: Sasuke x Naruto, Sakura x Lee, Kakashi x Iruka, Gaara x Naruto friendship

Summary: A conversation between his teammates lead to misunderstandings which result in Naruto's leave of Hidden Leaf. Permanently. And they can't do anything to make him come back. But what happens when he does, 7 years later? Why is he back?

Author's Note: My first Naruto fic. I've never actually watched a single episode, nor read it, I guess think the characters are so adorable and so cool! So…. Hope you like this! Shounen ai! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Naruto (the anime and the character) does not belong to me. I wish though…

change of POV or time gap

"speaking"

'thinking'

(author's note)

flashback

Ages:

Naruto: 15

Gaara: 16

All other rookies: 16

Temari: 20

Kankuro: 18

Mika and Riku: 17

Takeshi: 32

Kakashi: 35

Iruka: 31

Silenced

By: eternal radiance

Naruto was whistling to himself as he walked on his way to treat himself to several bowls of ramen. On his way there though, he blonde teen heard a familiar voice and stopped, turning to greet the person. Until he spotted who she was with. He was about to shout out to the two of them when he realized something.

Sasuke was supposed to be on a mission. Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion. What was he doing here? And with Sakura nonetheless? Wasn't Sakura on medic duty?

He hid in a nearby alleyway and tried to listen into their conversation, a look of curiosity on his face.

"Sure I can carry a baby for you, Sasuke-kun. But this will be our little secret ne?" Sakura was saying, while smiling up at Sasuke.

"You might want to tell Lee. I'll let the dobe know tonight." The dark-haired teen said, but Naruto turned away.

Sakura carrying Sasuke's baby? He knew that carrying couldn't mean holding, as Sasuke didn't have a baby, so… Naruto gasped out loud, one hand covering his mouth when he noticed that neither Sakura nor Sasuke had gone yet.

In a quick flash, he disappeared and left nothing but an empty alleyway, which Sasuke came up to inspect.

Naruto jumped from tree branch to tree branch, towards the one place where he knew he would be left alone. Once there, he curled up in a ball, wrapping his arms around his legs and pressing his face into his faces.

Hadn't Sasuke said he liked him? They'd been going out for almost a year. Why did it have to end now? How could Sasuke cheat on him like that? And with his ex-crush none-the-less! But inside, Naruto knew why. Who would want a demon as a boyfriend? People always hated him, even if it wasn't as apparent now, that Sasuke had gotten used to glaring at everyone. It was no surprise that his dark-haired lover would like even love someone else, once Naruto thought about it.

He'd be happy for Sakura and Sasuke, because…it wasn't their fault that he was the Kyuubi, the demon. If his teammates were happy together, then Naruto would do nothing to stop them…even at the expense of his own heart and happiness.

He stood up and wiped his tears away.

'I need to get away.' He thought randomly. If… if the village of Konoha wanted him gone for so long, why didn't he just do them a huge favour and leave?

'Because you had some precious people here…' Naruto sighed to himself. 'They're no longer in danger are they?' Itachi and Orochimaru have already been defeated and now all that was left was the agreement with Hidden Sand.

'…Gaara!' Naruto's mind-boggling thoughts reached the dark-red haired boy and he smiled. Gaara knew what it felt like to be a demon. He would never push Naruto away.

At once, Naruto started bounding towards the Hokage's office. When he got there, he went straight to the 'old hag's' office

"OLD HAG!" He shouted, slamming open the door (after asking the lady at the front desk whether Tsunade was alone or not. He had gotten some grunt and just assumed yes.) He ducked under a chair that made it's way towards him, but stopped halfway when someone or someones caught his attention.

"I want him."

Naruto crashed to the floor and twitched for a bit. Outside his head, he could hear Tsuande explode. "WHAT?!"

The blonde boy shook his head a few times and then stood up. "Gaara! Temari! Freaky guy! What are you guys doing here?"

Gaara opened his mouth to answer when the Hokage leaned over her desk, exposing a bit more then Naruto would like to see. "The question is, what are you doing here, brat?" She asked him instead.

Everyone in the room was surprised at how Naruto's good mood and happy face dropped with that one question.

"Oh… that." He shuffled his feet. "I wanted to leave the village. I just wanted to tell you that so I wouldn't be a missing-nin or something."

He turned to leave when one hand was placed on his shoulder. "Wha-?"

"I want him." Gaara's clear voice rang in the room.

The Hokage looked at Gaara then at Naruto. "Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked Naruto. "Once you leave this room, you'll be a member of Hidden Sand, not Leaf."

Naruto wordlessly nodded and passed in his hitae-ite reluctantly. H He started to take off the necklace that Tsunade had given him, but was stopped. And he was glad, because it was one of the few gifts he'd ever gotten.

"Keep it." Tsunade said in a rough voice, as if she was trying not to cry. Which she was; Naruto was like a younger brother she never had after all. "Remember us with it."

Naruto nodded and turned to leave. "I'll go pack then…"

"Does Sasuke know?" The Hokage asked before he could leave. Naruto paused at the door, frozen. He had hoped that he would be gone before she'd realize to ask that question. "No." He finally replied. The nails dug into his skin as he clenched his fists, trying not to cry. "Tell him… tell him… that… I hoped he and... Sakura-chan will be happy together…" And with that, he disappeared.

"That baka." Gaara growled and followed Naruto.

Temari and Kankuro stopped to thank Tsunade who was looking sadly at the door.

"I will send you one of our own to complete the deal, Hokage-sama." Temari said and bowed low. Then they too were gone.

Tsunade slumped down hard into her chair, her head in her hands. She wondered whether she did the right thing.

It wasn't that hard to pack all his belongings. Naruto only had a small amount of clothing and very little other things. He threw it all into a bag, then succumbed too throwing in the teddybear that Sasuke had given him and a small framed picture of the both of them.

He looked around the room. Nothing else was his. It was all something Sasuke had bought, seeing as Naruto had very little money. Plus, Sasuke had said that he didn't mind. He always said that he liked buying this for Naruto.

It was only then, in the room which Sasuke and his things once mingled, that Naruto truly broke down. He slumped t the ground, his back leaning on the wall as a backrest. Naruto curled into himself and began sobbing.

Part of him didn't want to leave, but part of him knew he had to. He'd miss everyone, all the 'rookies' who've turned into good friends of his. He realized that Leaf was holding the jounin exam and he'd have to come back, but none the less… did he want to come back? With Sasuke and Sakura together, Naruto no longer had anything to live for. Anyone to live for.

A soft touch startled him and Naruto lifted his head to find himself staring into pale green-blue eyes. He clutched into the taller boy's shirt and sobbed into his chest. Gaara's hand ran up and down Naruto's back, soothing him. A while ago, Gaara could even picture Naruto crying, let alone him trying to comfort a crying person, but it was happening and he was there.

When Naruto started wiping his tears with his sleeves, the redhead helped him up and slung the small duffel bag over his shoulder. "Do you need to leave Uchiha a note?" Gaara asked.

Naruto sniffled a few times before shaking his head. "He won't care. And if he does wonder, the old hag will tell him…" The blonde took one last look at the place he had called home, the willed himself to step out the door. He locked it and left the key in the mailbox. Sasuke would understand what it meant. He probably won't care. I'd save some the trouble of him asking Naruto to leave.

With one last look at his ex-house and the life he had led with Uchiha Sasuke, he left.

On his way out of Konoha, he bumped into none other then Konohamaru. The young boy had always been a good friend of Naruto's, and he'd hate to never see him again, but it was inevitable.

"Naruto-nii!" The young child called out. "Where are you going? It's a mission right?" Without even waiting for an answer; confirmation or not, he continued. "I'll be waiting for you to come return! I still have to beat you for the title of Hokage!" then, upon seeing his group of friends, he ran off. "Bye Naruto-nii!"

Gaara threw the running boy a strange look. "Konoha kids are loud…"

Naruto just stared after his "rival" for the Hokage position. Or his ex-rival for Hokage, seeing as he was no longer a Leaf-nin, the Hokage position was pretty much impossible for him to get. "But Konohamaru… I won' t be coming back…" He whispered.

TBC…

AN: How was it? I'm really sorry if there was anything that was different. I'm trying, but for someone who's never seen the anime or read the books, it's not a piece of cake. Heh If I'm writing something wrong, let me know please?