A/N: Guys, I'm being really nice with this update. If you don't tell me you want more, then I can't give you more. Well, I can, but I won't. Anyhow, this could be the last chapter, or the second of many more. We'll see in one full week.

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Just because there had been a rift in their lives, it didn't mean that they didn't have their ninja duties. Kakashi stood in front of them, prepared to ward off every question and inquiry they had about what had happened. He had already foiled Sakura's earlier attempts and was just waiting for Sasuke to break from curiosity. He knew the boy was brimming with angry questions and Kakashi was more than ready to thwart his efforts as well. Besides, it wasn't like he knew what to tell them.

"Are you alright, sensei?" Sakura asked in a tiny voice.

"Don't I look alright?" What were they talking about?

"You looked like you were in pain when they took Naruto away."

Kakashi eye flashed dangerously and he looked up at her with rage-induced slowness. "Didn't I tell the two of you to go home?" He growled. Sasuke took a step back and Sakura froze.

"Kakashi, we have every right to know---

"What makes you think that?"

Kakashi whipped around to see Iruka standing there with bandages on his hands and a slightly irate look on his face.

"Iruka-sensei."

Iruka started walking in a wide circle around them. "Come on Sasuke, let's hear it. What makes you think you have the right to know?"

The three of them looked equally confused. What was Iruka doing there? And why would he ask them something like that?

"We're his friends! I think that's more than enough reason for us to know!" Sakura shouted. She hadn't expected him to laugh.

Iruka had actually stopped walking and began laughing hysterically.

Kakashi had had enough.

Rushing the brown-haired ninja, he grabbed Iruka up by his vest and screamed into his face, "What the fuck is so fucking funny?!"

When the Chuunin didn't stop he pulled back to slam his fist into Iruka's face but froze when Iruka said,

"Define friends."

All of a sudden he wasn't laughing anymore. He pushed away Kakashi's hands.

"W-what? Sensei, why are you being like that?" Sakura looked like she didn't know who he was.

"What? Like what?"

Kakashi was done playing games. "Why are you here?" He hissed, ready to beat the smug asshole into the ground for mocking him.

"I want you to know what happened. Sarutobi-sama doesn't think you should know, but I'll let you in the hopes of rubbing your stupidity in your face. I know you think that what happened to Naruto is out of the ordinary, but it isn't."

"What are you saying?" Sasuke asked carefully. Was Iruka saying that trying to kill oneself was normal?

"Listen to me. I'm so high on sedatives right now, I can't find it in me to be angry enough to rip you to pieces Kakashi. I'll tell you what's happening. I'll start from the beginning. Interrupt me and I walk away, simple terms. I'm only telling you because once you know you won't be able to do anymore damage than you already have."

"Wh—

Iruka held his hand up. "No interruptions."

The three silently watched the expressionless Chuunin. They were too eager to know to cut him off again.

"When I first met Naruto in person, I already had him all mapped out. I thought of him like everybody else did. When I actually saw him, he was four. At least, that's what I found out afterwards. I thought he was much younger, he was a little over three feet tall, too short to be four. Anyway, I already hated him."

"One night, I was walking around the village, being as I didn't have any parents I was free to roam as late as I wanted. Passing an open alleyway, I saw a mob of people. Me being the little trouble maker I was wanted to see what was going on and maybe cause some mischief while I was at it. I didn't expect to see over twenty people kicking the shit out of a little toddler. There is nothing in this world that could have prepared me for that. I knew why they were hurting him, but….it was just so horrible. I already knew he was being mistreated, spanked, starved and such, but come to find that not only that, he was being raped, drugged, and beaten to within an inch of his life several times a week.

He paused.

"I see it in your eyes Sasuke, you think I'm lying, but the fact remains, when you go through all he went through, you can never be what anyone considers normal. Can any of you imagine what it's like to be that young and already have gone through more than most ninja go through in a lifetime? He was beyond fucked up from the age of four. As soon as he found out what death was he wanted it. He lost his mind when he was just a toddler. They tried everything. Drugs, jutsus, mind control, mind erasing techniques. After all that, they had given up hope and placed him in an internment camp for unstable children around his age. Who knew this would be the simplest way to get him to stop wanting to kill himself. As soon as he was marginally stabilized, they performed a Genjutsu called the 'Current Past' Justu. This jutsu was specifically designed for Naruto. It allowed him to progress with his life, but remain in the internment camp. I can't explain how that works, but from what I understand now, it was supposed to work until he was mentally capable of living independently. It obviously didn't work. A part of him knew it was an illusion, but he never expected to be able to fully face reality as it actually is. In other words, he snapped. For him it was like going back in time to when he was four, feeling the way he felt. Sandaime believes something triggered his relapse. But whatever it was, it was just the straw that broke the camel's back."

He smiled then.

"Would any of you by chance happen to know what that was?"

The last question was voiced in such a polite tone that Kakashi had actually become wary.

Sakura blanced. Sasuke looked confused. As far as he knew, nothing out of the ordinary had happened, it was the same thing everyday. Nothing was different. Naruto never showed any signs of being…crazy.

"Come on," Iruka urged in a nice voice, with a sly smile on his face that didn't belong.

"Someone here knows what happened. So out with it. Either you tell me, or you tell Ibiki Morino." Kakashi clenched his teeth. That old man would subject his students to the likes of Ibiki? They were just children!

"They don't know anything, Iruka. It's like you said, the jutsu just didn't work."

Iruka looked at him with the same calm smile. "I'm sure you'd like that to be the case, wouldn't you, Kakashi?" Then his face hardened. "I always thought that the way Sasuke and Sakura treated him was something he could handle. At the time it just seemed to be that they just weren't the right friends for him. I felt bad for putting them all on a team but I thought the sensei they got would straighten that out. Apparently, I was wrong. Instead you somehow mad it worse to the point where Naruto's desire to make all of the pain stop had overwhelmed the jutsu." The Chuunin turned suddenly, about to leave.

"Though I hate you enough to watch you die and laugh about it, Kakashi, something tells me that it wasn't you who delivered the final blow. Yes, Ibiki will interrogate these two whether you like it or not. Because the thing Sandaime is worried about the most is the Kyuubi. Be it your fault that Naruto releases him, you'll be the first to be sacrificed." With that, he poofed away.

Sakura sank to her knees and began to cry.

"Go home you two," Kakashi said gravely. "I need to go have a talk with Ibiki."

TBC….

I began this fic ages ago and now decided to post it. I hope I finish. I don't know where to go next. But, reviews fuel me as usual. However, lackthereof will cause me to uninspired and lazy and I'll just leave the fic alone. How will I know you guys want more if you don't tell me? As you all know, majority wins. And majority is more than five. Hehe. Okay I'll stop now, just make sure you all review.

Ja'ne.