Third chapter of Striking Steel.
I don't own Naruto.
"Are you okay?" That voice...seemed familiar. It had a soft quality to it and seemed friendly. Gentle hands moved under my arms, lifting me on my feet. Something wet was flowing down my cheeks. I touched my face with a finger and wiped the substance away. I put it in my mouth and it tasted salty. Tears...they were called tears.
"What were you doing out in the rain?" I couldn't seem to find my voice. My head leaned against the warmth offered to me. A suspected that the strange women wrapped a towel around me gingerly and brought me even closer.
This felt...nice. Yeah, that's it. It felt nice.
Three months later-Academy…
Shino was curious. His blond friend Naruto was acting strange he meant that the blonde-haired person was acting completely insane. He believed that his blond friend was hiding something. He kept his head down more often than necessary, and he seemed out of it more often. He didn't want to say anything, but if Naruto didn't get better soon, he would be forced to intervene.
It wasn't until recently that Iruka-sensei started having them to taijutsu classes outside. His match was against Sakura Haruno.
Sakura was one of the many Uchiha's fan girls. Shino watched her take a basic stance, and crack her hands a few times. He-on the other hand, preferred to take a much more relaxed stance compared to hers. The match lasted no longer than a few seconds when Shino sent a round house kick to her temple. The other kids watched as Ino dragged her friend/rival off the mat and to the other side of the arena.
When Iruka-sensei called the next match, he was hoping this wasn't another bad idea. "Naruto Uzumaki-Yuhi vs.-"
Excuse me Iruka-san, but may I suggest something." Everyone turned to Itachi holding a box of pocky in his arms.
"I'd think it would be a good idea if Naruto-kun faced off against my little brother Sasuke in a friendly spar for a few minutes." Iruka caught Naruto's eyes quickly and noticed he was shaking his head "no" and placing his hands in a praying position.
"I guess that would be alright Itachi-san."
"Damn you Iruka-sensei." The blond boy muttered under his breath.
The two fighters took their place in the middle of the mat, bowing to each other, silently glaring at each other to fail. Naruto easily pared the kick Sasuke threw at him, using the momentum to flip himself over him. Adjusting his shirt, he took the initiative to charge at Sasuke. Gripping his left arm, he dragged Sasuke toward him. He gritted his teeth as Sasuke blocked his punch with his available fist. Pulling Naruto towards him, Sasuke punched him squarely in the face.
"I thought this was supposed to be a friendly spar." Naruto stated, as he wiped off blood on his chin.
"It was-but I got a little bored. I hope you don't mind dobe."
"Well, you better start getting un-bored, now teme. We're keeping this match at a friendly spar and that's that. Don't forget, your bother is watching us. I hate for him to see you get hurt."
"Then I guess I better finish-" Sasuke cut himself off, when Naruto's foot connected with his jaw.
With Itachi and Iruka…
"It's nice to see Naruto sparring with other children his age again," Itachi said, while sipping a glass of tea, with Iruka in the shade.
"His own age?" Itachi nodded.
"Usually, he spends his time sparring with his mother and some of the older chunins. I suppose he likes a challenge."
"All youngsters like a challenge." Iruka and Itachi watched their disciples try to get the upper hand, while the other students watched on with excitement.
"Yosh! These children are glowing with the flames of youth!"
"That's one happy boy…" Itachi stated. Iruka watched Naruto deliver an upwards kick to his other student, efficiently ending the match.
"And that was a harsh kick."
With Naruto and Sasuke…
"The dobe cheated Iruka-sensei! You said that we weren't allowed to use any kind of jutu." Naruto shook her head, his side bangs covering his eyes from Sasuke.
"No." Naruto began.
"That wasn't a jutsu teme. That was what people called a strong kick. Maybe you should work on yours."
"No comment."
Naruto laughed at the boy's words, pulling him up with little difficulty.
"At least you get to spar with your brother after school."
"Good job, Naruto-kun. You too Sasuke-kun. It'd be best that I get going Iruka-san. I have a mission later tonight, and I want to stock up on supplies before I leave."
Therefore, Itachi left the curious students and tired teacher…but not without hearing a few choice words from our favorite blonde-haired person…
"WHAT? You never told me that! Can I go with you? This place is boring." Itachi chuckled.
"Sorry Naruto!"
"Aww. I never get to do anything fun." Naruto stomped the floor like a five year old.
"Don't worry! I'm sure you'll get missions when you graduate!"
" Yeah. In my dreams probably."
Later that evening…
"How was school today gaki?"
Naruto felt three familiar charka signatures in the room, and signed. His mother knew he was a very private young man. He'd considered lying to his mom and her little "friends," or as he called them, "drink buddies", but he had a few bad experiences with lying to his mother in the past, so why lie and have a broken nose in the end, instead of telling her how he really felt. Either way, he was probably going to be getting a broken nose by the end of the night. It would be healed by the next morning anyways.
"Fine."
"What's wrong? Did someone hit you? Bruise you?" Kurenai's voice lowered to a whisper. "Are you going through the 'change'?"
Naruto's eyes widened, "Kaa-san! That is not something I would want to talk about in front of company."
Naruto groaned even more, as a certain pervert ruffled his already unruly hair; his foul mood worsened even more as more giggles sounded throughout the room, as he coughed red liquid in his palm. Turning away from the others, he trudged up the stairs wiping each drop of blood off his chin. A warm hand stopped him mid-way.
"Naruto-kun, you know I was just joking around don't you?" Kurenai asked.
Naruto nodded. Kurenai usually joked around more when she was surrounded by friends, but other that the house was silent on a regular basis.
Kurenai frowned, as the young boy didn't answer her, his left arm going limp. She focused her attention elsewhere for a moment, just noticing the bloody palm and dripping blood spilling all over her stairs. Naruto's legs gave out under him, with Kurenai going into mother-hen-panic-mode.
"Naruto? Naruto!" Kakashi swept Naruto from her arms, transporting them to the hospital in little to no time.
30 minutes later...
"This isn't making any sense! He was just in my arms thirty minutes ago. Safe! Why? Why didn't I see it? That blood was there clear as day. I should have seen it!" Kurenai was hugging her arms to her chest, tears crawling down her cheeks quietly.
"Probably because you were too busy teasing him and dealing with Asuma with your eyes the whole time."
"Shut up Anko."
Kurenai considered punching her best friend in the throat for a minute, but chose to take out her frustrations on the kitchen wall. Therefore, if you asked her later on, it wasn't she who placed a fist sized crater in the middle of the kitchen wall. It was Naruto. End of story.
She knew that the Hokage would be notified of this event, like always. It wasn't the first time Naruto passed out from an attack. It was however, the first one she didn't see it coming, and that was what was hurting her the most right now.
Flashback- 3yrs ago…
"Naruto-kun, are you all right in there?"
It was a stupid question to ask. The boy was coughing blood like there was no tomorrow, and she was locked out of the bathroom on the other side of the door. The blond bundle of yellow sunshine refused to take the medication all the doctors prescribed him. He claimed that it made the coughing worse.
"Naruto-kun. It can't be all bad." Naruto groaned even louder on his way to his bedroom.
"How would you know?" Naruto slammed the door in her face, tears swimming down his face.
"You don't know how it feels like to be an outsider all the time. I'm already blind, and my mother is the Kurenai Yuhi. It's just worse when everyone is pitying you because of a little 'anxiety' attack every now and again." She heard him yell through the door. It felt as though someone had taken a knife and cut out her heart with the blunt blade.
"It's not considered pity, Naruto-kun. The doctors and I just want you to get better. Please, let me in the room."
"'It's not pity, Naruto.' That's just a bunch of bull crap. That's what life is. Bull crap here and bull crap there. The only thing those doctors want from me is my death and you're too blind to see it." Kurenai had enough. She kicked the door in, and gripped Naruto by his arms and forced him to stay still.
"You're the only blind one here Naruto! Both psychologically and physically. You're too blind by your fear and hatred to see that they are people who actually care for you as a person. Not as a demon, but a living breathing human being. Don't you remember all the laughter we shared together as a family?"
"Yeah I do, but I also remember feeling and seeing the stares and glares that were sent my way. So I'm sorry that I can't letgo of a part of me that I've had since I was born."
"You're right Naruto-kun. I can't tell how to deal with your life. I can't tell you to let go of all that anger. However, I can help you ease it little by little, until it's gone. I just want to help you Naruto. As your mother, I have the responsibility to at least help try to help you overcome your problems. Don't you trust me enough to do at least that much?"
Naruto was silent for a moment. Kurenai turned back for a minute, walking down the hallway in silence, looking over her shoulder every now and again for that little boy she'd come to love as her own. She was tackled from behind, before her foot hit the last stair, muffled cries drawing her back to reality.
She carefully wrapped the crying blond in her arms, caressing his back in small smooth circles, rocking him back and forth in haste moments like a frantic mother trying to console a broken down two year old. Physical speaking Naruto was almost a tween, but mentally he was still a two year old.
She couldn't take away all his pain.
However, she could die trying.
The first thing on the list was to keep her son away from Kakashi and Guy for as long as possible. She'd be dammed if she watched her vulnerable son be turned in a mini youth character or even worse. A mini Kakashi. Kakashi wasn't that bad but… that's another story but anyway, mother and son stayed like that for a while. At least, till our favorite blond hero tensed in Kurenai's arms.
With no warning, Naruto threw up in Kurenai's lap. It was bad enough that ramen and salmon were mixed in there, but when she noticed the blood, she panicked.
"You ungrateful little brat! You couldn't have given me a clear warning before you up-chucked on me! This is my favorite dress!"
Naruto ignored her as he covered his mouth again.
"Oh no, we're not going through this again."
Scooping the blonde-haired person soon to be shinobi under her arms, she rushed off to the bathroom. Least to say, Anko got a kick out of the story, when she blackmailed Kurenai into telling her why she, Kurenai Yuhi, was late for the latest jonin meeting, but that's another story too.
The point is that Kurenai and Naruto's relationship was less rocky and they had resolved some old issues and made new ones. Ah… what a perfect and lively family.
End flashback…
Sarutobi was quite shocked to say the least. Why would one of the world's most influential and powerful people in all the five nations be literately shell-shock? Well, it wasn't every day when you see one of your best ANBU hit on a fellow ANBU member, but then again who could blame him? Life was unpredictable and tragic for most shinobi.
Now, in general-women were mysterious creatures to the third Hokage. One moment, you're kissing each other like there's no tomorrow, and then the next minute you're on the floor with a broken arm.
Weird, isn't it?
Anyway Itachi Uchiha was...talking to said member, and Sarutobi couldn't help but feel as if he was intruding on a very important moment. Then again, he came at a very crucial part too. It wasn't every day, you saw Itachi Uchiha get pimp slapped by a pissed off female. With Kakashi that was more than likely to happen since it did all the time, but with Itachi Uchiha; that was just plain funny.
Itachi walked over to the esteemed Hokage, bowing in respect making room for him to walk through the door. The Hokage nodded to him, letting a smirk pass threw his defenses for a quick moment.
"I don't believe that picking up girls is part of the job, Itachi-san."
"Hokage-sama I came to the hospital in order to check on Naruto, but that was too much to ask for." Swinging an arm around Itachi's shoulder, she pointed her finger towards him. "And it looks like I found a young arrogant asshole. Hokage-sama, I'll leave you and the asshole alone."
Sarutobi whistled as she strolled casually out of the room totaling ignoring the glare fired at her. "That's one feisty woman, all right Itachi. If only you could speak girl; then you probably wouldn't have received the 'asshole' title."
Pause.
"I think she rated you a four."
Sarutobi chuckled at the young nins face, easily shrugging off the glare the boy sent to him. The smile flipped over into a frown, though when Sarubtobi's eyes landed on the prone form of Naruto.
"So…" he asked. The cheerful and playful tone disappeared. Sarubtobi's stoned look surprised the normally stoic Uchiha.
"…How is he?"
"Not so good Hokage-sama."
"What are the full extents of his injuries?" He asked. Itachi frowned.
"The doctors aren't sure still. We're waiting on the blood tests for one. Also, Kurenai wants some alone time with the boy." Sarutobi nodded.
"Will he live through the night?"
Pause.
"They don't think so."
Edit: 2/15/13
End chapter of Striking Steel. Thank you all to who reviewed and added me onto their favorite list and story alert. Review and have a great holiday! Who should train young Naruto and his future teammates? I have a few people in mind, but the only problem is that I'm a very indecisive person. See you next time.
Edit: 8.9.14
I changed a few more things in here including the grammar and the plot line a little bit. I hope this is better than before, even if its better by a little bit. I would like to thank all the reviewers and alerts/favorites. I appreciate all the reviews and I do take them in consideration and value them highly. Please review if you have the time. Ja ne!