Author's Note: I would just like to say thanks to some of the reviewers. It was really nice to see that a few really liked the idea. I can't have all the credit though, seeing as how I came up with the idea while playing Rock Band. The song is also from Rock Band I did some minor edits to the lyrics to make it fit a little bit better in Naruto's world. So without further ado…
Chapter Three
The weirdest thing just happened that night. Naruto, Kiba and Shikamaru just officially became a band. It was an interesting feeling for them. When they first bought their instruments they never thought they were going really do something other than play by themselves. It was a great way to relax when they weren't on missions, but now they all got together and played an original song.
Shikamaru and Kiba were leaving when Naruto spoke up.
"So do you guys want to come back and practice tomorrow?"
"Yes, definitely… I can't believe we just did that though," Shikamaru replied in a daze almost like they were doing drugs, not getting an adrenaline rush.
"Yeah, see you later Naruto," Kiba mumbled, barely getting the words out, then it finally hit him, and he yelled "that was freaking awesome!"
"Well see you guys tomorrow," Naruto said his good-bye and shut the door.
As Kiba and Shikamaru started to walk back together, Shikamaru was still thinking about what transpired. He still couldn't shake the fact that Naruto was the one who wrote that song.
"Hey Shikamaru what's bothering you?"
"It's just that I can't believe it was who Naruto that wrote that song," he replied not turning to look at him.
"I know what you mean. I thought that the parts for you and me were pretty good since he doesn't even play our instruments. I always thought that he was just an idiot. Something must have really come over him to write that." Shikamaru just nodded lazily. "Hey Shikamaru do think we should tell anyone about this?"
"I don't think so. Just think of the reaction of everyone when we go to a club to play our first gig."
Kiba nodded. "Your right that would be better, playing that awesome song and seeing everyone so surprised. Also Naruto's voice sounded really good. I guess once his voice deepened up he could actually sing."
(Another Flashback)
Kiba started to think a back few years when the rookie nine and Gai's team all got together for a party. Unfortunately there was Karaoke there and everyone got to here Naruto's singing voice. Let's just say nails on a chalkboard sounded better and that's all you need to know.
(It's over? Yes. Present Time)
Kiba shuttered at the thought and awaited Shikamaru's answer.
"Yeah, this is defiantly very," Kiba expected him to say troublesome and was surprised to here, "interesting. Well see you tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to going back and practicing. So when do you want to meet up?"
"Well if we're going to keep it a secret I would say nightfall," Kiba replied.
"Alright see you then," Shikamaru walked off and gave Kiba a wave good-bye.
"Alright bye," Kiba walked back into his house and yelled, "Akamaru I'm Home!"
Shikamaru heard dog barks coming from behind him. He just looked up at the sky and thought, 'How did I get myself into this? Oh well, at least it isn't that troublesome.' He walked on home and went to bed to prepare himself for the day ahead of him.
Naruto woke up to a beautiful morning in his huge king size bed. It was probable bigger than that, but he didn't care he just loved how comfortable it was. It had been a while since he slept in a bed so soft. Naruto finally rolled out of bed and found out that he was quite hungry. He went over to the fridge to only to find it… EMPTY! "Awe man I forgot to go shopping. Where's my wallet?" He found it, threw on some casual clothes and flashed to the supermarket to stock up.
Finally getting back from his trip he couldn't even put everything away, only stuff that needed to be chilled and turned on his stove. A few minutes later Naruto sat down to eat his eggs and bacon. "Ah. That hit the spot. Well I better go see what's going on today." He cleaned up his mess, all of them, and left it on a towel to dry.
"I wonder what Baa-Chan is doing?" Within the time it took to snap a finger, he appeared out side her door. He knocked. There was no answer, so he let himself in. Walking in, he found the Hokage sleeping at her desk. "Just as I thought she got smashed even after she had all that sake at dinner. He walked over to where she was sleeping and yelled right in her ear "Baa-Chan WAKE UP!!" This, to be truly honest went beyond stunning her; she jumped straight up in the air and hit the ceiling.
"Wow Baa-Chan I didn't think slugs could jump that high," he snickered.
"Ha, ha very funny, we're all impressed," she retorted.
He just continued to give grin of his. "So what do you want Naruto?"
"Well I was just seeing if there is anything to do today?" Naruto replied.
"You're lucky you got the sannin position off a technicality or else I would have doing D-rank missions forever," she shot back not really watching what she said. The mention of Jiraiya caused them both to remember him and sulk for a few minutes.
"Alright then," said Naruto finally recovering from his memories, "I guess I'll see you later then."
After she said good-bye and waited for him to leave. "Now what did I do with that Sake bottle, I need to drown out my memories real quick. Wait here it is." She grabbed the bottle from under her chair and looked at it. "WHAT? It's Empty! No! I must get more. There is no more. That was the last bottle I had." She then just yelled like no tomorrow. The kind of yell, you would yell, if your favorite pet was run over by a car or lost something very precious to you.
Sakura had her first day of from the hospital in a while. Actually today was mandatory. She signed up for extra shifts ever since Sasuke had been released from jail. Sasuke was hanging off here more than Naruto use to. Sasuke had hoped that hanging off her like Naruto would woo her back to him. Since he knew she had fallen for Naruto. She actually hadn't said who it was, but Sasuke for being so corrupt is a smart guy.
Sakura had told him a thousand times that she was saving her heart for another. Well since you can't save something for someone you haven't met. He knew that someone in this village was who she was talking about, but he knew from gossipers like Ino that Sakura had not gone on a date the entire three years he was here. She declined every offer. He knew for a fact that the only citizen of Konoha that could leave the village for three years and still be allowed freely back in was Naruto Uzimaki (now Namikaze, but they don't know that yet).
Sakura was walking with Ino and Sai trying to hope that they would be able to help her with her Sasuke problem.
"Sakura when will you go on a date with me," he whined.
Sai then spoke up, "You must have a pretty small dick to and steal a heart that you will never own."
"Why you little," Sasuke couldn't finish his sentence because Sakura had put a hand both his and Sai's mouths.
"Guys let's not fight we're Twenty now, grow up," she ordered.
"Trust me Sakura Sai has," she smiled and hugged Sai after her comment.
"Ino I really didn't need to know that," Sakura replied, "Hey look its Shikamaru. Shikamaru," he turned around to see the group after hearing Sakura's call.
"Hey guys. What are you up to?" he yelled back.
"Not much," answered Ino
"I see. Have you guys seen Naruto?"
"Not in four years," Sakura replied.
"So I guess you don't know he's back yet?"
"What!?" they all yelled in Unison.
"Well I'm going to go find him we need to talk," he turned and left.
Sakura without saying where she was going, took off to go find Naruto. Sasuke followed suite as well. She checked all of his old favorite spots and went to his old apartment. Yet the apartment owner said that he hadn't seen Naruto as well. Sasuke still being a snake on the inside decided to speak.
"Sakura maybe he just doesn't like you anymore. It has been four years since you saw him. He could have moved on."
"No I don't believe you," she felt tears coming and she ran home to find the comfort of her bed.
The sun fell behind the walls around Konoha when Shikamaru and Kiba met up. They started talking about things they had seen today. "I saw Ino, Sakura, Sai and Sasuke today. None of them had seen Naruto yet. I think he is too ashamed to see any of them. He did after all promise to go after Sasuke, but he came back on his own."
"I think your right Shikamaru, and he probably uses his guitar for an outlet like I use my drums," Kiba replied. "We might be the only ones to see him for a while."
"This is so troublesome me might get swarmed with questions about him if he doesn't see the rest of the rookie nine," Shikamaru hung his head down in thought to process what was going on.
"Hey Naruto open up we're here," Kiba yelled.
"Alright, come in, it's open," Naruto returned. "Welcome back guys there is something we need to talk about before we practice."
"Okay," Shikamaru replied.
The both followed him to the main house and into the living room. They sat down in one of the many chairs. Naruto asked if they wanted something to drink, but they declined.
"Alright guys I've been thinking," Naruto started. "Since we just became a band I thought that we needed a name. The only problem I can't think of anything good enough."
"Same here," both Kiba and Shikamaru couldn't think of anything as well. The band had all been on their minds.
"I guess we're just nameless," Shikamaru finally spoke after the minutes of silence after the original question had been asked.
"Just nameless," Naruto whispered in a kind of thinking aloud way. "Just nameless," he said again, but louder. "That could work as a name."
Kiba caught on, "Your right it's like a metaphor or something, Just Nameless being the name of our band."
Shikamaru caught on, "You're right it's a play on words as well. Just Nameless¹, Just Speechless, It's perfect within itself. Also we could change the name later if we wanted too.
Naruto and Kiba just nodded their heads and said yeah.
"Okay is there anything else we need to discuss?" Naruto asked.
"I meant to tell you this sooner, but I did talk to a club owner today," Shikamaru spoke up.
"And?" both Kiba and Naruto asked.
"He owed me a favor for helping out one time, so if we get our act together we're in," Shikamaru answered with a smile on his face.
"Alright, but out of curiosity which club," Kiba asked twirling his fingers, he desperately wanted to here his answer.
"Only the most popular one in town," replied a grinning Shikamaru.
"Yes, we get West Side first gig. Woo!" Kiba yelled.
"West Side²," Naruto asked, "what's that?"
"That's the name of the club, since it is on the west side of town," Kiba answered, "alright I am so ready to practice this is awesome!"
"Alright then, well let's go practice Just Nameless," Naruto yelled.
The three all went back into Naruto's music to practice. They had a name and a gig now. They were ready to turn this into a fun, little job. Of course this wasn't going to interrupt their Ninja careers, but it would hopefully be very fun and hopefully be a very profitable side job. There wasn't much competition so if they could get ahead early they could be, set. Every young adult is always hurting for a little money. Am I right?
¹ and ² This is what happens when you run out of creativity.
(A few weeks later)
As Shikamaru, he and Kiba were bombarded with questions over the past couple of weeks, but they respected Naruto's wish to not be disturbed. Even some of the council members were asking questions. Of course the time was getting very close to when they would make their debut. They could all play their song very well; they just had to remember it. For Naruto and Shikamaru it wasn't that hard. Naruto wrote it and Shikamaru was a genius. The only problem was Kiba, but he had almost remembered all of it.
Later that night for practice Kiba announced.
"I got it. I remembered it all."
"Alright Kiba, good job, Okay now, Shikamaru do think tomorrow you could asked that owner if we could play tomorrow night?" Naruto asked, you could tell that he was ready to surprised everyone, and so were Kiba and Shikamaru.
"Yeah, that's no problem at all."
"Okay good, let's spread the news to our friends once we get confirmation from you. Tell them that I'm inviting them to the club to celebrate my return and I was just settling into my new home until now, that way they don't expect a thing." Naruto kind of assumed the role as leader; it was his song after all, he wrote it, so Kiba and Shikamaru didn't mind the orders.
"Also," Naruto added, "could someone please get Sakura and Sasuke for me? I don't want to deal with them."
"Yeah sure," replied Shikamaru
They all split up and did their jobs. Shikamaru checked with the club owner he said it was alright. So he caught up with Naruto and Kiba and informed them everything was a go. Kiba tracked down his teammates Hinata and Shino. Naruto found Sai and Ino and told them about the club after he was crushed by a hug from Ino. He also tracked down Team Gai and they said they would join him.
Shikimaru found Choji on the same old rooftop watching the clouds and Choji said he would meet them there. He also found Sakura and Sasuke quite easily by the fact that she was punching Sasuke pretty hard into everything. Sasuke was even punched up high into the sky like a beacon one time. She really didn't like him hanging on to her, Naruto was never that annoying. Sasuke was persistent though, she had to give him that.
"Hey Sakura, bloody pulp," Shikamaru said waving as he walked to Sakura and a badly beaten Sasuke.
"Hey Shikamaru what do you want?" she asked as he walked up.
"Well I was just here to tell you that Naruto is inviting everyone to West Side tonight to celebrate his homecoming," as soon as he said Naruto, Sakura's face lit up.
"I have to go get ready, hurry Shikamaru what time do we meet up," Shikamaru could tell her heartbeat shot up.
"Around seven I think," he replied.
"Alright, bye," she took off down the road to her house, she ran faster than he had ever seen before. This caused him to raise an eye-brow. Then he suddenly remembered Sasuke.
"Hey Sasuke you coming too?" he asked as Sasuke was just standing up.
"Yeah I guess I'll go see the Dupe," he replied.
"Well it looks like that Dupe has stolen Sakura from you," Shikamaru laughed and walked away he knew his comment would upset Sasuke and it did. Sasuke did get pretty mad and he would just have to get him later that night.
Everyone gathered outside of west side. They were all wearing casual clothing. The guys in various tee-shirts and jeans, and the girls were wearing fewer clothes then they probably should've worn, but no one really minded. Everyone was ready to see Naruto again. Kiba and Shikamaru used this chance while everyone was distracted to sneak in the back and start setting up. When they finished, they signaled to Naruto and he suddenly appeared in front of everyone. Most of them were taken back by the fact that he had just appeared from what looked like a flash of lightning.
"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late," he scratched back and made a nervous smile. He was definitely a good actor. No one could tell that that this was planned. "Alright guys let's go in." Sakura and Ino were at the front of the group and Ino asked,"He's cute isn't he." Sakura answered with a nod and a blush. While everyone else walked Naruto stayed to the back to talk to Kiba and Shikamaru. "So you guys have everything ready?" they nodded, "What time do we go on?"
"Seven-thirty," answered Shikamaru.
"You guys ready for this?" he asked just to make sure. "You know it," they answered.
For twenty-five minutes or so everyone caught Naruto up on all the town gossip. Naruto found out that Neji and Ten-ten got together. Ino boasted about her relationship with Sai, while Sai kinda just stood there. Kiba and Hinata were said to be an idol, but when question they said I have no idea what you're talking about. Which always, well not always, but most of the time means that something is going on. Nobody really brought up Sakura and Sasuke, but Naruto assumed that they were together.
"Alright guys, I'll be right back, there's something I have to do really quickly," Naruto got up and left.
Kiba then yelled, "Hey Naruto wait a sec, I'll help you out."
"I'll go help them as well," Shikamaru added.
A few minutes later they hadn't returned an Ino asked, "Where are they? I thought they would be back by now."
The suddenly a voice came of over the speaker system. "Tonight we have a special performance for your enjoyment. If you could turn you attention to the stage we will begin."
"What's going on," people started to ask.
Suddenly the stage curtain opened and Naruto walked out with a guitar strapped around his neck. He spoke into the Microphone that was there and said "Hi there, I'm Naruto Namikaze and this is a song I wrote. It will be played by my friends Shikamaru, Kiba, and me. I hope you enjoy. It's called When You Were Young. Kiba walked up to his drums which had a microphone added to it. Shikamaru went up to his Microphone and nodded to Naruto telling him that they were ready.
Everyone in the crowd was asking questions like, what are those instruments and since when has Naruto been a Namikaze.
Naruto the proceeded to start the song with a chord and he continued to play his fingers gliding across the fret board. It then finally came time for the first verse.
"You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy to
save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now ... here he comes!
He doesn't look a thing like Kami
But he talks like a gentleman
Like you imagined when you were young
Can we climb this mountain?
I don't know
Higher now than ever before
I know we can make it if we take it slow
Let's take it easy
Easy now, watch it go
We're burning down the highway skyline
On the back of a hurricane that started turning
When you were young
When you were young
And sometimes you close your eyes
and see the place where you used to live
When you were young
They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet
You don't have to drink right now
But you can dip your feet
Every once in a little while
You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy to
To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now here he comes
He doesn't look a thing like Kami
But he talks like a gentleman
Like you imagined when you were young
(He talks like a gentleman, like you imagined when) Shikamaru and Kiba sung this in the background.
When you were young
I said he doesn't look a thing like Kami
He doesn't look a thing like Kami
But more than you'll ever know"
Everyone was stunned they didn't know what to do. They never heard anything like. They wanted to applaud and scream, but they couldn't move.
"Hey Shikamaru is everyone staring like that good or bad?" Naruto asked in a low whisper.
"I think it's good, now say thank you so we can leave," Shikamaru replied.
"Yeah right," saying thank you completely skipped his mind, "thank you." The trio walked of and the curtain closed. After that some random person yelled "Woo." Just like that silence everyone was clapping and screaming. The rookie nine and Gai's team all went back stage to see the three people that just astounded them.
"Yeah, we just blew them away," yelled Kiba.
Just then Sakura was the first one to rush into the room and clung onto Naruto.
"Naruto that was amazing, how did you write that song?" she asked.
"I just took what I knew and what my heart said," he replied wondering why she was hugging him like this when she was with Sasuke, or so he thought.
"So then who was girl in the song?" throwing at him another question.
"It was you," he answered.
"Me?" she asked
Kiba also asked the same question to Shikamaru who elaborated.
"Don't you get it? Naruto thinks that Sakura is with Sasuke. The song refers to how they were to in the past and that Sasuke is the snake who acts like a gentleman."
"I see." Kiba replied.
They turned back to the conversation that Naruto was having. The rest of their friends also walked. "Sakura I know about you and Sasuke. I know you care for him."
"Naruto I…I don't love him. I love you."
"That's a lie. Why do you continue to mess with my heart?"
"Naruto I…I," she started to feel tears well and then she wasn't even able to finish her sentence, because Naruto cut her off rather forcefully. "Good-bye Sakura."
She was hurt. Naruto never acted like that to her. He didn't even use an honorific when he spoke to her. She just ran out the back door as tears started to fall. Everyone saw this and thought that that was completely out of line, except Sasuke who smiled and decided to follow Sakura.
"Naruto what was that," Ino yelled.
"I only told her the truth and said good-bye," he replied not really showing any emotion.
Sai then made a comment. "Naruto, you're blind to the truth."
"What?" he asked.
"I may have been without emotions my entire life, but I can still tell that Sakura loves you."
"What are you talking about?" asking another question.
This time Ino answered, "Naruto Sakura has turned down every date she got since you left. Even when Sasuke was released from jail she didn't care about him. She loves you," Ino stressed the, you and Naruto finally realized what they were talking about.
"Well I guess I better go apologize."
"Yes you should."
He turned to leave and go find Sakura, but Sasuke was already on his way.
Author's Note: Well I hope you liked this incredibly long chapter. I think I'm pretty much done with this. I have another idea for a story on my profile page if you want to check it out. Also here is my official disclaimer for the The Killers. Also there should be a interesting confrontation next time around.
Disclaimer: I do not own When You Were Young by The Killers.