Uzumaki Tears: Valentines Day
A/N - As the others say Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. The only Naruto stuff I own at this time is the Manga books from 1 to 27 and the first four uncut DVD box sets.
This is my version of a 'Valentines' holiday story for Naruto. I reference parts from the filler episodes for a minor part of this story. Figure the time frame for this story is sometime after Asuma's death and before the birth of Kurenai and his baby. It's after midnight now and I'm feeling wiped out. I only gave this story a quick once over so please excuse any minor spelling/grammar mistakes I didn't catch.
My apologies for neglecting my other stories, I haven't stopped working on them and this story is probably a good indication that I'm getting back into the writing groove. All three of the other stories I've got going should be updated sometime in the next two weeks.
Ino looked up as the bell over the door to her families shop jingled as the door opened. Her eyes widened slightly as her lips turned up slightly with a bit of a mischievous grin.
'This ought to be interesting.' She thought to herself as she took in the sight of Naruto.
She eyed him as he looked around the shop very carefully while she tried to suppress a chuckle. She wondered if he had been waiting outside for her to be the one minding the store. It was rare that she helped her parents these days but Valentines Day was one of the days she always tried to help. Oddly enough Naruto was the only one in the store. At that she frowned. That had happened each of the other times he had showed up in the family shop years ago, back in their academy days. She had noted the fact that customers would mutter and leave anytime he showed up when they were younger but she had figured it was for his prankster reputation. Oh and the fact that he was incredibly annoying back then. Now she knew the truth and she suppressed a slight shudder at the thought of all the abuse he must have gone through over the years because that thing was sealed inside him.
'Well I guess it won't hurt to be a little nicer to him.' She thought as her frown faded and she gave him an honest smile, granted it was a small smile.
She had to admit that he was almost cute right now, almost. It wasn't often that anyone ever saw the 'infamous' Naruto Uzumaki in the state he was in. Loud, boisterous and apparently idiotic sure, that kind of stuff she was very familiar with. She had also seen him bring surprising focus and incredible fighting skills to bear on more than one occasion. She had been impressed when he had beaten Kiba and stunned when he had beaten Neji. She still couldn't express exactly how completely floored she still was after watching him utterly destroy that Kakuzu thing. Nearly unrivaled determination and pretty much insane goals that she was beginning to think weren't so insane were also things she associated with Naruto. Timid, cautious and hesitant, seeing these attributes was rare. In fact even on this day she had only seen him like this a few times. Something told her that this might be even more interesting than she thought when she first seen the look on his face when walked in.
"Naruto." She spoke a little loudly and she smiled as he jumped.
"Ino." Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he stole a glance at the wide variety of colored roses. "So you know flowers and stuff really good right?"
Ino raised one eyebrow and simply looked at him for a moment.
"What do you think?" She replied.
"Oh yeah, right. Um, all the different colors for the roses mean stuff right?"
"Yes, they do."
"Could you explain them all to me?"
Ino blinked as she straightened up from leaning on the counter. She gave a small sigh and smiled a little more as she went around the corner to the masses of roses her family had put out for Valentines Day.
"O.K. here's the basics. Red of course symbolizes love and romance. Pink here is for expressing admiration and also to say thank you. Yellow is for friendship. White is usually for innocence and purity but it also shows honor and reverence. Orange shows blazing energy and enthusiasm. These lavender ones can be popular for Valentines, they symbolize enchantment and love at first sight. Peach is also for friendship as well as admiration. Coral shows desire, passion and excitement. The blue is for mystery and to symbolize the unattainable. This last group of yellow ones here with the red tips are for friendship and falling in love. Here's a card that lists them all if you want." She finished up as she handed him the card that she pulled from a rack at the end of the display.
Naruto studied the card for a few moments and then pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket and looked at that.
"You can wrap them up singly and in different amounts right?" He asked.
"Of course I can. We even put little vials of water on the end of each rose in smaller bouquets."
"Great." Naruto smiled broadly. "Here's what I'm going to need."
"Are you certain you should be buying anything though? Valentines is more a day for women to be giving gifts to men that they're interested in around here in Konoha, usually chocolate. White day is generally when men buy gifts for women in return." Ino said, cutting him off.
"Are you sure? If that's the case why do you have so many flowers out today?"
"Yes I'm sure. As to the flowers, well we get a lot of travelers who have slightly different customs so we keep a large amount of roses sealed in scrolls that we pull out for both today and White day. There's also some confused young boys from time to time that tend buy flowers today. Putting out the flowers today is also a good way to increase sales on White day." Ino said with a glint in her eyes, wondering if he would catch the little jab about confused boys.
"Well I spent plenty of time traveling around, so I guess I qualify for that and I tend to make my own customs. Oh and I certainly qualify as confused when it comes to girls. Besides I would never want to be like everyone else. I guess I've got all the bases covered." Naruto said with a grin.
"Something tells me you have nothing to worry about when it comes to being like everyone else." Ino smiled at Naruto.
"Now as I was saying, I'm going to need…"
Naruto continued talking as Ino followed his requests. In a rather short amount of time she had prepared nine separate bundles of roses for him. The largest had a half dozen flowers in it and for that one he also purchased a small vase. Ino bundled all of the flowers into a single box that could easily hold a few dozen roses so he could easily carry all of them. He dug out his precious 'gama chan' wallet and paid the total.
"Oh, one last thing." Naruto said as he looked in the still open box full of roses.
"What's that Naruto?" Ino asked.
"Here and thank you." Naruto smiled at her as he took one of the single yellow roses out of the box and handed it to Ino.
"Naruto, you don't have to give me any flowers, I'm kind of surrounded by them you know."
"I know but they mean something when a friend gives you one." Naruto said still smiling as he closed the box and headed out the door with it, giving Ino a wave as he disappeared.
Ino stood there in shock for a few minutes. He certainly was the number one surprising ninja at times.
"Ino dear, things seem to be slowing down we're going to have to start sealing up some of these flowers soon if we want to eat dinner at a decent time." Ino's mother said as she walked out to see the look of surprise on her daughters face.
"Oh right mom." Ino said as she shook off her confusion.
About an hour later the bell rang and Ino looked up to see a puzzled TenTen holding a single yellow rose.
"Hey Ino." TenTen called out as she entered and headed straight for the counter.
"Hey there yourself. I see you're one of the single yellows." Ino smiled at the confusion on TenTens face.
"Single yellows?" TenTen asked.
"That's from Naruto isn't it?" Ino said pointing to the single yellow rose in TenTen's hand.
"Yeah, this is why I stopped by. I never expected to get anything from Naruto for Valentines day, that was a heck of a surprise. I don't know what yellow means but I figured you would."
Ino sighed.
"You're kidding right? Stuff like that was covered in kunoichi training."
"I never paid any attention to that kind of stuff back in the academy and it was years ago. Seriously though what does a yellow rose mean? And what did you mean by 'one of the single yellows'?"
"O.K. a yellow rose is used to show friendship. Naruto came in earlier and bought a whole mess of roses. He had four yellow roses wrapped up individually. That's what I meant by 'single yellow'. I'm one of those as well." Ino smiled and pointed to the single yellow rose she had propped up behind the counter after Naruto had given it to her. It was still sitting in its plastic water tube, Ino hadn't gotten around to putting it in a real vase yet.
"So then how much is a 'whole mess' anyway?"
"Well there were the four individual yellow roses but he also bought several paired roses. There was a yellow, peach pair, a yellow, pink pair and a yellow white pair. He also had one bouquet with three roses. That set was yellow, pink and white. Now the really interesting one was the half dozen roses together. That bouquet had two red, two white and two orange roses."
"So he bought roses for nine women then?"
"Apparently. I've been wondering about that one batch of a half dozen roses since he left. That was a strange combination."
"Why is that strange?"
"Well I told him that red was love and romance, white was innocence, purity along with honor and reverence. The orange roses mean blazing energy and enthusiasm. I'm pretty sure he didn't mean any romance with that bouquet and he seemed to key on the honor and reverence for the white roses, the orange seemed a little out of place though."
"It's Naruto, maybe he just liked the color, he certainly wears it often enough."
"Maybe, it just seemed a little strange."
"Now I'm really curious."
"Yeah me too, especially since he didn't buy a dozen red roses like he used to." Ino smiled.
"Used to?"
"Oh he had the biggest crush on Sakura back in the academy and the Valentines day before he left he bought her a full dozen roses."
"Really? Not this year though?"
"Nope, looks like he finally got the hint that she wasn't interested. It may be that he just toned it down a bit and those half dozen roses were for her. Although something tells me that those were for someone else."
"I wouldn't think Naruto even knew nine women. At least not well enough to be giving them roses." TenTen mused. "Hey you don't think he gave Sakura one of those single yellow roses do you?"
"I doubt it, I'm sure that she got at least one of the paired sets."
"I don't know, if you think about it there are four of us kunoichi's that are close to his age that he interacts with. He could have given each of us one of those singles."
"Oh that would be rich, I'd love to see the look on Sakura's face if that was the case and she finds out he thinks of her just like the rest of us." Ino said with a slightly evil glint to her eyes.
"I thought you two were close friends?" TenTen asked.
"Oh we are but trust me her ego could use a little deflating from time to time."
"I'd be more interested in seeing Hinata's reaction if he gave her one." TenTen laughed.
"You know we should hunt him down and find out. I'm dying to know who he gave the other roses to." Ino said.
"That sounds like a good idea."
"MOM! I'm going to head out now. I'll grab something to eat while I'm out." Ino yelled out. "Come on lets go."
"Where do we start? I don't know where he lives."
"He's probably not at his apartment anyway. It's getting late, the most likely place to find Naruto right now is Ichiraku's"
"The ramen place?"
"Oh yeah, it's practically all he eats and its unreal how much of the stuff he can pack away. He's the only person I know of who can match an Akimichi when it comes to eating ramen."
"Lead the way then." TenTen said with a grin.
The two girls headed out with Ino grabbing her yellow rose and giving her mom a wave as the older woman came out from the back. Much like why Ino enjoyed helping out at the family flower shop from time to time, this particular 'mission' the two young women took upon themselves was a welcome change. It was nice to occasionally work on something frivolous that didn't carry any responsibilities or hazards. Besides they were teenage girls after all and roses on Valentines day was something they were just a bit interested in. Despite what Ino had told Naruto earlier about Valentines day and White day, the people of Konoha weren't that 'strict' about the two days and plenty of gifts were exchanged by both sexes on both days. In a short amount of time they found themselves approaching Ichiraku's. They could tell immediately that their blond quarry was not around. With a quick glance to each other they decided to stop at the ramen bar anyway. While neither of them was enamored of the hot dish that Naruto thrived on it was well past dinner and each was thinking that a bowl of ramen would be fitting since they were looking for Naruto.
Each girl ordered their own bowl of miso ramen and looked around as they sat down. Almost immediately their eyes locked onto a single yellow rose in a thin vase sitting behind the counter.
"Excuse me miss?"
"It's Ayame please." The slightly older woman replied with a smile.
"Sure thing but you gotta call me Ino then and my friend here is TenTen. Ayame, that yellow rose wouldn't happen to be from Naruto would it."
"Oh yes, it was the sweetest thing."
"He's probably just looking to score some free ramen." A much older man behind the counter said gruffly, although his smile told the two kunoichi that he wasn't actually angry.
"Father! You know better, Naruto isn't like that." Ayame scolded her father.
"Yeah, yeah sure if you say so. Just remember he's too young for you if he asks you out."
Ino and TenTen smiled at the interplay between the two.
"He had quite a bundle of flowers there." Ayame said as she turned back to the two young women and place a bowl in front of each of them.
"So that's one more. You know at the rate we're going we're going to find out who he gave all those roses to very quickly." TenTen said between bites of ramen.
"Hmm, well it's safe to say that Sakura got one." Ino replied.
"I think Hinata is also a safe bet. She'll probably be unconscious for a week if he did give her a rose on Valentines day." TenTen said with a chuckle.
"Are you two trying to figure out who Naruto gave all those flowers to? I bet he gave some to the Hokage too. They occasionally eat here together." Ayame said.
"Really!" The two kunoichi said in stereo together.
"Oh yes, you can tell they're quite close. Although she doesn't eat with him anywhere near as much as Iruka does." Ayame said with a soft smile and wistful tone at the mention of Iruka.
"That ones too old for you!" Ayame's father yelled out from the back causing the young waitress to sigh.
"O.K. so the Hokage too. That makes six." Ino mused.
"If he's close to the Hokage then Shizune is probably one of the others as well." TenTen stated.
"So if our guesses are correct then that still leaves two mystery women." Ino said.
"Mystery women?" A feminine voice asked behind them.
They turned to see Kurenai and Anko enter the ramen bar. Kurenai had an amused smile on her face and Anko looked irritated. The girls eyes widened slightly as they saw that Kurenai held a pair of roses, one yellow and one white. They quickly glanced to Anko and saw that her hands were empty. Anko on the other hand quickly spotted the three roses inside the food stand. Her eyes shifting from Ino to TenTen to Ayame before they narrowed making her look even more irritated.
"Are those from Naruto?" The two girls asked, again in stereo.
"Actually yes, they are. He can be a sweet young man sometimes." Kurenai said with a smile.
"Sweet my ass." Anko muttered, causing Kurenai to laugh slightly.
"Please excuse my friend here, she was a little annoyed that she didn't receive any flowers herself." Kurenai chuckled.
"I went on just as many missions with that runt as you did." Anko grumbled.
"Well I think he's a little afraid of you and I think he feels a connection to me through Asuma. He was helping Naruto work on air elemental manipulation." Kurenai said as she caressed her swollen stomach.
There was a moment of silence and everyone looked uncomfortable for a moment.
"Hey Kurenai-sensei, you wouldn't happen to know if Naruto gave Hinata any roses would you?" Ino asked trying to side track the conversation back to a more light hearted discussion. She had a very tender spot in her heart for Kurenai but right now she didn't want to think about Asuma.
"Oh yes, that was quite amusing. I hope she's woken up by now." The look of sadness on Kurenai's face fell away as she laughed.
"You left her passed out?" TenTen asked.
"Don't worry Shino and Kiba are watching over her. I was hoping to find Naruto myself. I'm starting to think that I might have to talk to him about Hinata but I wanted feel him out a bit before making that decision. I think it would be better if that worked out on it's own but it doesn't hurt to do some preliminary investigation." Kurenai replied.
Naruto simply barged into Tsunade's office. The Hokage herself let out a soft sigh and rolled her eyes as she put the bottle of sake away. It was pretty much the end of the day and she had already gotten a good start on the bottle but she knew Naruto would give her a hard time about it. She quickly grew puzzled at the expression on Narutos face. Usually when he barged in like this he was either angry or demanding or both. This time he had the oddest expression that bordered on outright embarrassment. He gave a quick look around and smiled at the sight of Sakura and Shizune. Sakura saw the smile and let out a rather audible sigh of her own. She hoped he wasn't about to embarrass her with a large amount of flowers that the large box from the Yamanaka flower shop seemed to indicate.
"Hey Granny Tsunade!" Naruto yelled out as he dropped the box on her desk.
"Damn it Naruto would you stop calling me that and stop yelling already." Tsunade scowled.
"Aw come on don't be a grumpy old lady."
"Naruto, I'm warning you." Tsunade's voice dropped to a low growl.
"Listen it's Valentines day and I'm trying to be nice here." Naruto beamed as he opened the box.
He muttered a bit as he moved the flowers around inside before pulling out two bundles. One had a single yellow rose and the other was a pair with a yellow rose along with a peach rose.
"One for you." He walked over and handed the single rose to Shizune. "And two for you." He smiled even more as he handed the pair to Sakura.
Naruto went back to the box and pulled out one more bouquet of flowers.
"Last but certainly not least, three for you." He stated softly as he handed the bundle of three roses to Tsunade.
Tsunade's eyes widened slightly as she took the bundle with three roses. The yellow, pink and white colors easily visible. She glanced down into the box that still had flowers in it. She was surprised to see that there was a single bouquet of a half dozen roses still in the box. She was even more surprised to see two red roses along with two orange and two white. Tsunade stole a quick glance to the two roses in Sakura's hand and she began to wonder. One of the things Sakura complained about over the months had been Naruto constantly pestering her for a date.
"That's an odd combination of colors still in the box there Naruto." Tsunade grinned mischievously as she stole one more glance to Sakura. "If you're giving Sakura two roses and me three, just who would you be giving a half dozen roses to today? Some red ones at that."
Tsunade smiled and was almost unable to suppress a chuckle at the look of shock that flashed onto Sakura's face. His team mate may like to complain about Narutos attention but the very idea of Naruto becoming attracted to someone else was quite a surprise to the young kunoichi. Tsunade's smile broadened at the sight of the now flustered Naruto.
"Well you see, about that…" Naruto hesitated for a moment before he looked to the floor bowed deeply to Tsunade and continued in a whisper. "I need a favor Godaime Hokage-sama."
The room became completely silent. Shizune and Sakura's mouths fell open. They had never seen Naruto act like this before. Tsunade's eyes grew very wide and sat back into her chair heavily. In fact if it wasn't for that chair she probably would have fallen on the floor. The silence continued for a few more moments before Tsunade spoke out softly.
"O.k. Naruto, exactly what do you want."
"I want to know my mothers name and where she is buried." The young man replied without looking up. "Kakashi-sensei would only tell me that she must have died during the Kyuubi's attack."
Tsunade's eyes softened and a look of deep sadness fell on her face.
"I'm sorry Naruto but I can't tell you that." She said quietly, causing Naruto to look up in shock for a moment before he looked back to the floor.
"You know though, don't you? Listen I was with Jiraiya for more than two years, if she was one of the village prostitutes I can handle that. I just want…"
Naruto was cut off abruptly as Tsunade hit him. At the word 'prostitutes' a look of fury flashed on to Tsunade's face. In an instant the Hokage leaped up out of her chair, flung her desk off to the side, sending it half way through a wall and smacked Naruto. The blond shinobi was flung through the air in the opposite direction from the demolished desk to find himself a bit more than halfway through a wall as well.
"Don't you dare speak of your mother like that! She was a highly respected shinobi of the Leaf Village even if she wasn't born here and her name is on the memorial stone!" Tsunade screamed at him.
Naruto burst out of the remains of the wall and started yelling back at Tsunade.
"WHAT THE FUCK! That's a load of BULLSHIT and you know it! I've looked at the stone more than once and there are no Uzumaki names anywhere at all on it.
Tsunade sighed and her shoulders sagged.
"Shizune, Sakura please leave." Tsunade stated.
Sakura glanced at the seething Naruto and back to the obviously still furious Tsunade.
"But…"
"JUST GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!" Tsunade suddenly yelled at Sakura.
"Come Sakura we have to leave." Shizune said softly as she grabbed Ton-Ton and pulled Sakura out the door and closed it behind them.
'I'm waiting for a damn explanation!'
'I don't have to explain anything to you!'
'Fuck you! I'm not asking for very much here!'
'It's for your own good and for the good of the village you senseless twit!'
'Don't give me that shit and I don't appreciate you lying to me about her name being on the memorial stone!'
'Her name is there you stupid fool, Uzumaki is her family name and her name was etched on the stone with your fathers family name.'
Outside of the office Sakura's ears burned from the words coming through the door.
"Come on Sakura you shouldn't be listening to any of this." Shizune said softly as the two on the other side of the door continued to scream at each other. As they walked down the hall they were almost run over by a couple of the tower guards. Shizune spoke to them quietly but intently. They both nodded and each of the split off to spread the word to stay away from the Hokage's office. Shizune then guided Sakura out of the building. They made one more stop and Shizune arranged to have an Anbu squad tail Naruto if he left the tower still angry.
"We should probably wait for him somewhere. Somewhere other than the tower, he might need to talk to someone once he finishes yelling at Tsunade." Shizune said softly.
"I think I know exactly where he'll go after that." Sakura replied.
Sakura and Shizune shortly found themselves at Ichiraku's. From what they heard of the argument taking place back at the Hokage's office this would probably be the first place Naruto would head to once he finally stopped yelling at Tsunade. They each held the roses Naruto had given them and each of them was very concerned about their friend. They were surprised to see a small crowd of women already at the ramen bar. Ino was the first to turn, lift the curtain and spot her friend walking. Sakura was obviously distraught about something and looking at Shizune it was clear that she was also upset. Ino quickly spied that both Shizune and Sakura held roses.
"Hey Ayame-san do you guys have any tables and chairs we could set up outside, it looks like we've got quite a crowd growing."
"Of course Ino." The waitress replied.
In a brief amount of time along with Ino and TenTen's help they were all sitting around a couple of folding tables.
"So it looks like Naruto got to you two as well." TenTen said.
"Oh, you mean the roses?" Shizune replied while Sakura looked down.
"Yeah he gave out quite a lot today. We were just trying to figure out who got them all. We were pretty certain that you two were on the list along with the Hokage but we couldn't figure out who that last person could be. We also were wondering who got the half dozen roses." Ino said.
Everyone fell silent for a moment. At Ino's words Shizune looked uncomfortable and Sakura became more distraught.
"You guys know don't you?" TenTen finally stated, breaking the silence.
"The half dozen roses were for his mother." Sakura said softly.
"I thought he was an orphan?" Ino stated.
"He is. He asked Tsunade-sama for her name and where she was buried." Sakura continued.
"So why the glum look?"
"She refused to tell him and he flipped out. They're probably still screaming at each other."
"What!" Ino and TenTen called out together.
The two surprised kunoichi glanced at each other and then both turned to Shizune.
"What's up with that?" TenTen asked Shizune.
"You know who his mom is don't you?" Ino said to Shizune with a demanding tone.
"It's a state secret and yes I do but please don't ask, I can't say."
"How could his mothers identity be a state secret?" Ino demanded.
"That doesn't make any sense, after all we all…" TenTen paused and looked around before she resumed talking in a whisper. "We all know about the fox."
"This is bigger and though related it is more important than that. After all the fox wasn't much of a secret from everyone who was there. It was hidden mostly from your generation in hopes that the fox being a secret would help Naruto lead a more normal life." Shizune said in a tired voice.
"Why though, what could possibly be bigger than the fox?" Ino asked.
"I really can't say. If so much as a hint of the truth got out it could very well have dire consequences even today. So please just try to forget this whole incident and for heavens sake don't ever talk about it." Shizune stated softly.
"Keep this in mind. Tsunade loves Naruto. At the very least she usually thinks of him as if he were a younger brother of hers, if not more. I'm sure she must have very good reasons to keep this from him." Sakura said.
"Besides you never know, Naruto is growing up and this can't stay a secret forever. It's probably only a matter of time before Tsunade-sama reveals the truth. I would greatly appreciate it if you don't talk any further about this even among yourselves." Shizune stated softly.
Kakashi felt what seemed to be an explosion of killing intent and he cringed as he not only immediately recognized it as belonging to Naruto but that it was coming from the tower. It took him a few minutes to reach the Hokage administration tower and as he leaped through the air intending to land near the Hokages office window he caught sight of Naruto as his young student burst out of the front door of the building and stormed off. He breathed a short sigh of relief as he continued sailing through the air that the young man wasn't covered in blood or showed any significant signs of fighting. Landing next to the window he still feared the worst as he peeked into Tsunade's office. Considering the amount of killing intent Naruto was throwing off Kakashi was rather surprised that there wasn't more damage. Tsunade's desk was mangled and buried in one wall. There was a nice sized hole in the other wall. Looking more he took note that the office doors were also pretty much totally gone. Nothing but splinters and a few small pieces of wood hanging from the twisted hinges remained of the once massive oak doors. Tsunade herself stood roughly where her desk used to be. Kakashi was surprised at the defeated look the village leader had standing there.
"Godaime Hokage-sama, are you o.k.?" Kakashi asked.
"Ah Kakashi, perfect timing. I'm afraid we have something of a problem.
Kakashi stood there for a few minutes as Tsunade outlined what had happened between her and Naruto. He was then shocked when the Hokage suddenly turned on him and verbally berated him for allowing Naruto to get to this state. He had no idea what he could have done differently. He had followed the Sandaime's orders to the letter concerning Naruto but he wasn't about to argue with Tsunade now. No matter how irrational he thought she was being. It didn't take long for him to feel wiped out emotionally from Tsunade's verbal barrage.
"Enough of this. Go out and follow him, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid and if he needs someone you had better be there for him." Tsunade stated as she walked over to her ruined desk and carefully picked up a bouquet of roses that were on the floor near the desk.
Kakashi bowed quickly and jumped out the window.
Tsunade sighed as she looked at the roses. It hadn't escaped her that Sakura had received two roses and she had received three. That Naruto had a half dozen for a mother he knew nothing about had her on the verge of tears. She took a deep breath and walked over to a picture that was on the wall to the left of the remains of her door. She pressed a hidden latch on one side of the frame and one side of the picture popped away from the wall. She swung it open to reveal a safe hidden in the wall. She quickly dialed the combination and then focused her chakra into the lock in a very specific pattern. There was a loud click and the handle glowed yellow for a moment. Turning the handle as its color faded back to normal she opened the safe. Reaching in she pulled out a file folder and began leafing through it until she came to a specific photograph. Taking the photo out of the folder she looked at the woman in the picture who had long red hair.
"I'm so sorry Kushina. You would be so proud of him." At that she released the tears she had been holding back.
Hinata and Kiba were walking down one of Konohas many streets together. Shino had left them once Hinata had recovered from the shock of Naruto giving her a pair of roses. Kiba was teasing her occasionally to her further embarrassment but she had a soft smile on her face as they walked. She had decided that she should try to find Naruto and actually try to say thank you for the roses since she had passed out before she could do so earlier. She reached into her jacket and her fingers lightly brushed the small box inside the inner pocket for what might have been the thousandth time. It was small box of chocolate that she had hoped she would have the courage to give to Naruto. Unfortunately when he appeared at the training ground Team 8 typically used and gave Kurenai sensei and herself the roses Hinata didn't remember anything after that. She smiled as she glanced down to the yellow and pink roses. There was the slightest tinge of disappointment at the yellow rose but the pink definitely made her smile. In the end though Naruto had given her roses.
'Naruto-kun admires me.' She thought to herself and her cheeks took on a slight pink color that didn't quite match the rose but was close.
Hinata suddenly felt an oppressive wave of incredible killer intent wash over her and she stopped dead in her tracks. It was simply unbelievable. She had never felt anything quite like this ever before in her life. It was the oddest combination of anger and loss. Despite years of training and all of her battle experience she almost succumbed to the fear. Her knees shook slightly and she took a half step back. She quickly glanced around and saw that Kiba and Akamaru were just as affected as she was. Kiba was definitely shaking slightly as his eyes grew wide. Akamaru was even more distraught, his tail was between his legs and he had started to whimper as he dropped to his belly. As both Kiba and Hinata looked around they saw that everyone else had fled. Doors and shutters were slamming shut along the path of the shockwave of killer intent.
Kiba grabbed a kunai. Hinata figured that was a good idea but she made a hand seal and activated her Byakugan before one of her own kunai appeared in her hand.
The world took on a monochromatic hue as the buildings around her became somewhat translucent to her perceptions. She could concentrate on any specific area and the buildings would become almost completely transparent depending on her focus and concentration. She could see that the people inside were hiding in closest, cupboards, basements even under beds and a lot were fleeing out back doors.
A bright source of incredible chakra entered her field of view. It was quickly apparent that it was heading their way. Her breath grew short as the oddly familiar chakra got closer and closer. She had never seen such a vast amount of chakra simply flowing along like that. It was so intense that she couldn't make out whoever was the actual source with her Byakugan. She let her enhanced vision drop away to normal and she stared intently at the street corner ahead of them. She gave Kiba a quick hand signal and pointed to the side street.
Both of their mouths fell open in amazement as the source of the unbelievable killer intent and incredible chakra was revealed to be none other than Naruto as he turned the corner. The first thing she noticed though was he was still holding the box that had been full of roses earlier. She looked up and couldn't believe the expression of outright fury on his face and her ears suddenly began to burn once she realized that he was venting out an incredible stream of profanity. Blue streamers of actually visible chakra were flowing off of him as he stormed by.
An instant later though he was gone. The killer intent quickly faded along with the cursing.
"He didn't even see us, did he?" Kiba whispered.
"I don't think so." Hinata answered in an even softer voice.
They both felt the presence of other ninja and they looked up to see a squad of Anbu flitting from roof to roof trailing cautiously behind Naruto.
Hinata turned and was about to follow Naruto after the Anbu, until Kiba grabbed her shoulder.
"I'm not sure you should follow him Hinata." Kiba said softly.
"Kiba…" Hinata paused as her emotions jumbled together. "I think he desperately needs a friend."
Before Kiba could reply Kakashi suddenly appeared.
"Are you two o.k.?" He asked intently.
"Yes but Naruto…" Hinata trailed off as she looked down the street in the direction Naruto had disappeared.
Kakashi stared at Hinata and weighed his options. It was easy to tell that she was about to follow Naruto. He looked at the flowers and remembered that Tsunade had told him the whole fiasco had started with Naruto giving roses to several women.
"Hinata, those flowers, were they from Naruto?" Kakashi asked, causing the young women to blush.
"Yes." She answered timidly.
"It might be a good idea for you to come with me." Kakashi said cautiously.
"We were supposed to meet Kurenai-sensei though." Kiba stated.
"If there's any chance that that I can help Naruto-kun." Hinata answered as she bowed her head.
"O.K. Kiba you keep the meet up with Kurenai and let her know that Hinata is with me." He turned to Hinata. "Ready."
She merely nodded and as he leapt away trailing the Anbu she followed. In moments they had caught up to the leader of the Anbu squad. Kakashi said a few things to which the squad leader nodded, signaled the rest of his squad and they ceased their pursuit, leaving it to Kakashi and Hinata.
All of the kunoichi's sitting at Ichiraku's suddenly froze. Each of them felt the faint aura of Narutos anger off in the distance. Kurenai closed her eyes and Anko narrowed hers.
"He's heading to the training grounds." Kurenai said softly as she looked to Anko who nodded in agreement.
"Should we go after him?" Sakura asked as she looked from Kurenai to Shizune.
Kurenai looked at each of them, with one exception each of them was holding roses.
"That may not be a good idea. If he argued with Tsunade-sama like that the best thing might be to leave him alone until he comes to grips with the situation. Just in case though." Kurenai looked to Anko who simply nodded again before she leaped off in the direction Naruto had been heading in.
Everyone became quiet as they each looked at their roses.
In a surprisingly short amount of time Anko returned with Kiba who told them Kakashi was shadowing Naruto with Hinata.
"I'm sure that Kakashi will take care of anything if it's necessary." Kurenai said quietly.
"What about Hinata?" Sakura asked.
Kurenai looked at Sakura for a long moment, her eyes lingered on the pair of roses in the pink haired girls hand. They were similar but subtly different to the ones Naruto had given Hinata. Her eyes glanced around to the roses the other girls held. She knew something of the history of Sakura, Naruto and Hinata, which had caused her to sometimes wonder how blind young people could be. It might not be fair to the young Haruno but Kurenai cared deeply for Hinata and figured the girl deserved to maybe have a slight advantage over Sakura.
"I'm sure Kakashi will do whatever is best for Naruto. It's probably a bad idea for anyone to bother Naruto so most likely he'll make sure they stay away from Naruto and only keep an eye on him as insurance. We should probably call it a night." Kurenai said.
Kurenai and Anko quietly said their good byes and headed off. All of the remaining girls looked at their flowers sadly. The day had seemed so much better less than an hour ago and now it was ending on such a down note that everyone was feeling depressed. Even the normally boisterous Kiba could only look around. He had no idea what to do in such a situation and decided his best bet was to simply say goodbye and beat a hasty retreat. He wasn't about to do anything that could further upset the women around him. Sakura and Shizune decided to head back to the tower and check in with Tsunade. TenTen and Ino helped Ayame put the extra tables and chairs away. They gave Ayame a subdued farewell and each headed off to their own homes.
Naruto stood before the memorial stone while his emotions churned. In the rare moments that he could even think he couldn't decide which was worse, the crushing despair or burning fury.
Some of them knew, not everyone but enough of them. Tsunade obviously knew, hell she had been the one to actually tell him. Jiraiya definitely had to have known as well, he was certain of that. Kakashi most likely knew too.
He had been here only a few times before, years ago. A few quick glances all those years ago had confirmed that there were no Uzumaki names on the memorial stone. The first time he had encountered the stone he hadn't truly realized that it could have been a link to his past. A few days after that first bell test when Team 7 went against Kakashi sensei though he had stopped by to really look at the stone. He had stopped by a few times after that as well, each time looking for his family name. Not finding anything he had decided the stone offered nothing for him at that time in his life. Maybe his parents weren't ninja or maybe they were but simply hadn't earned the right to have their names etched into the rock he had thought at the time.
Now he knew better, in fact now he knew that both of his parents names were etched somewhere into the stone before him. He felt another surge of fury suppress the despair.
She had refused to tell him any more than his parents names were in fact on the stone and that Uzumaki was actually his mothers family name.
It had seemed that he had screamed at Tsunade for hours after she had told him those facts and then refused to tell him their actual names. Looking back he himself was rather surprised that he had done nothing more than yell at the Hokage throughout his tirade. Well nothing other than destroying her office door with a Rasengan once he finally decided to storm out.
"Mom?" He finally said softly, not even a whisper really as he dropped to his knees.
"They won't even tell me your name but I know it's here somewhere." His voice caught in his throat as he reached out and his fingers brushed across the surface of the stone.
He stopped talking as the dark despair won out and his vision blurred from the tears.
Off in the distance Hinata trembled as she watched Naruto fall to his knees. Of their own violation her hands drifted together and she began to press her fingers together. She turned her head and looked up to Kakashi, her unspoken question remained silent but it was easy for him to see it in her eyes.
"I know it hurts Hinata but you have to leave him alone. Right now he just might lash out at anyone who approaches him, especially his friends. He has to come to terms with what Tsunade told him on his own." Kakashi stated.
"But…"
"No." He looked at and gave her a soft smile. Although she couldn't see any more of it than the crinkle in his one visible eye because of his mask. "Maybe later or better yet maybe tomorrow. Now we just have to keep an eye on him."
"What could she possibly have told him that drove him to this?" She asked.
"Narutos parents names are on the memorial stone."
Hinata's mouth dropped open and her eyes grew wide.
"Wouldn't that make him happy to finally know who his parents are?"
"Well, that's the problem. She wouldn't give him their names."
"That's horrible. How could she do such a thing?"
"It's for his own protection." Kakashi looked at Hinata intently. "His father had extremely powerful enemies for one and there are other factors that complicate the situation even more."
Hinata hesitated for a moment and grew suddenly cold. Her trembling came to an abrupt stop as her hands drifted apart and fell to her sides. Kakashi was surprised to see her hands clench into fists.
"You know who they are don't you. You've always known." She stated with such a tone that Kakashi actually felt the hair on his arms and back of his neck stand up on end. He was rather stunned to see and feel such anger from the young kunoichi. He immediately overcame his shock, quickly stole a glance to Naruto in the distance to see if he felt the sudden intensity of Hinata's psychic aura. He sighed softly in relief that Naruto had not noticed. Looking back to Hinata he was surprised again to see that she had activated her Byakugan without using any seals or even saying anything.
"Hinata, you don't understand." He was almost tempted to take a step back as he closed his eye, it had been a short but extremely emotionally draining evening for him back at Tsunade's office. He looked down, Hinata was simply not someone he would have thought could bring so much focused anger to bear on someone else.
"I don't understand?" Her voice was the strangest mixture of sad softness and hard steel. "I may understand Naruto better than anyone, most certainly anyone our age. I think you are the one who does not understand. All those years that he was alone and had no family or friends. He had nothing that the rest of us had. Did you ever once see him when he was alone at the academy after everyone else's parents would pick up the other students? Even I who was practically thrown away by my father had more than Naruto ever did."
"Hinata, it's kind of complicated, especially for me. I had some very specific orders from the Sandaime regarding Naruto." Kakashi whispered as Hinata suddenly stared at him even more intently somehow.
"There's more." She hissed and her eyes seemed to bore into his very soul. "You not only knew who his parents were but you actually knew them personally didn't you?"
"Hinata, I'm sorry but I simply can't explain right now." Kakashi answered as he hung his head in shame and he mentally cursed the perceptive abilities of the Hyuga clan.
"How could you do such a thing to Naruto-kun?" Hinata practically growled.
Kakashi was about to say something more but Hinata surprised him once again as her hand seemed to disappear and she slapped him. Very hard. Kakashi's left ear actually shut down and his right ear began ringing as the left side of his face went completely numb from the impact of her hand.
Hinata gave Kakashi one last glare. Her Byakugan fell away and she looked over to Naruto.
"Naruto-kun." She whispered.
She hung her head down in shame herself and tears formed in her eyes. All this time, all of her work, all of her progress and once again when he really needed a friend she couldn't summon enough courage to approach him. Kakashi's words haunted her now, Naruto had to be left alone at this time. Feeling disappointed with herself and to a degree even disgusted at her cowardice she turned away and slowly walked away as her tears fell. She clutched desperately at the two roses in her hands as she headed off in the general direction of her home.
About a half hour later Narutos breathing began to even out and he wiped at his still flowing tears with his sleeve. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
"I'm sorry I couldn't find out your name mom. Someday I will know, I promise."
Naruto took one more deep breath and he placed the last bouquet on the ground in front of the memorial stone. His tears slowed but didn't stop. Feeling exhausted and emotionally drained he turned and slowly made his way towards home.
Kakashi silently followed. Although he was sure that everything was going to be o.k. now. Well as o.k. as was possible anyway.
Hinata shuffled through the quiet streets of Konoha. This evening had turned into one of the most emotionally turbulent days of her life. Her heart felt as though she had been riding a roller coaster all day. She had stopped crying before she had gotten to the village proper. The days events weighed heavily on her. As she turned a corner she felt the small box of chocolate brush against her ribs. She froze for a moment. She was struck with sudden inspiration and she abruptly changed direction. She quickly found herself in front of the door to Narutos apartment. She softly bit her lower lip, she was about to do something that most people would frown on but she felt it needed to be done. Reaching into a pocket she pulled out a small soft leather case. Releasing the tie latch she pulled out a couple of thin metal tools. In about a seconds time she had picked the lock on Narutos door and quickly put the tools away and a moment later the case was back in its pocket. She gave the door way and the whole apartment a quick scan with her Byakugan before she turned the door knob, entered his apartment and turned on the light. To her immediate right was a small hallway that had two doors. She knew from her quick scan that they led off to his bathroom and bedroom. Just beyond the hallway along the right wall was a kitchenette with a sink and hotplate. To her left was a refrigerator and directly in front of her was a table with a single chair. She walked in and sat down at the table. Reaching into her jacket she took the small box of chocolate out and placed it on the table. It was the only thing on the table so she was certain it would stand out. She reached into another pocket and pulled out a small pad of paper along with a pen and she began to write.
'Naruto-kun, my apologies for breaking into your apartment. I meant to give these to you earlier but was unable to. I heard and saw that you had a rough evening and I wanted to let you know that if you need to talk to anyone I would be more than happy to listen.
Thank you very much for the roses,
Hinata.'
She hesitated after signing her name and for a moment she thought about taking the box and stuffing it back into her pocket along with the note. There was so much more she wanted to say in the note but she didn't trust herself. If she wrote any more she would almost certainly chicken out and not go through with this. She was tired of not being there for him and this simple note would let him know that she was in fact there for him but it left him the option to do anything about it. She gave the note and box one last look as she put her pen and notepad away. With a sigh she let herself out, locking the door behind her as she left. She walked the rest of the way home in a daze.
A few hours later Naruto stumbled into his apartment shortly after midnight. He turned and immediately headed off towards his bedroom, never actually turning on the light. He kicked off his sandals and dropped onto his bed. He spent several minutes simply staring up at the ceiling in the dark. His turmoil simply wasn't about to let him sleep. His stomach finally decided to kick in with a loud growl causing him to sigh. He got up and headed into the kitchen area. Turning on the light he headed to a cabinet and pulled out a cup of instant ramen. He suddenly froze just before the sink. Thinking he had imagined something he slowly turned his head to his table to discover that he had not in fact imagined anything, there actually was something on his table.
Slowly he moved over to the other side of the table where the chair was, his eyes never leaving the small box and piece of paper. Sitting down he cautiously reached out and picked up the paper and read the few short lines. He blinked a few times unsure of many things that the note implied. He then reached out and picked up the small box. Opening it up he found that it contained chocolate. He was no expert but he was certain that the pieces of chocolate had not been made in a store. He took a piece out and popped it in his mouth. He almost immediately felt a little better and a small smile appeared on his face for a brief moment. His expression shifted to thoughtful as he got up and went back to the sink to work on his instant ramen.
Roughly fifteen minutes later he was back in bed, once again staring at the ceiling he couldn't see in the darkness. Three more pieces of chocolate had joined the first along with the cup ramen. It wasn't the best mixture if he thought about it but he certainly felt a lot better. Despite the jumble of thoughts running around in his head he was soon asleep. The last thought to run through his head before his consciousness faded was that he should probably stop by the Hokage's office and apologize to the old bat.
A/N
I reference the filler missions for the missions Anko mentioned.
I'm also going with the idea that Naruto worked with Asuma a few times instead of the single example shown in the manga.
There is no sign of the Kyuubi's chakra for Narutos anger in this story. For this story Narutos anger is completly his own. I guess you could say that Narutos feelings for his mother that he never met somehow suppressed any expression of the Kyuubi chakra.
This story is meant to stand on its own. I originally meant to end it when Naruto left the memorial stone but I felt the scene with Hinata sneaking into Naruto's apartment just fit. I've got a few ideas that might follow up this story. I'll either go with another one shot or two along the same story line or I'll consider this a prequel if things go that way. I do consider this story complete though as it is. One thing is certain though, I will work on my other stories and put up their next chapters before I touch this story line again.
- later T.J.