Beta: Black Angel of the Underworld
School wasn't something Naruto particularly liked. He loved learning yet relearning things he did instinctively wasn't his cup of tea. He might just be a clone, but it didn't mean he had no personality. There was a bit of Naruto in each and every one of them, making them unique in their own way.
Naruto pondered on this as the other children threw shurikens at their targets. He looked down at his own weapon before gripping it tightly.
Soon his brand of Naruto would be obsolete, forever gone, and only a mere moment that would be forgotten. He was frightened at the prospect and wondered briefly if the other clones felt the same way.
He threw his shurikens and it landed far away from the middle. He grabbed another one and did the same.
"Okay, class, time for lunch," the teacher said, getting ready to leave. "Collect your materials."
Some of the students followed suit and the only people left were him and a few others.
Naruto went to go pick up his tools but, before he could, the booming voice of one of the students interrupted him.
"Why don't you pick up ours, too, bitch?"
Naruto paused.
He turned around and took in their smug expressions. The leader of the group was a vicious-looking brunette with her arms crossed over her chest. The others were smirking, but they were just following the leader, holding no obvious grudge from what he could see. Did Kyuubi kill her parents? Did the villagers fill her mind with the "he's a demon" garbage?
Her smirk intensified. Would they move on if he ignored them? Probably not. Fuck.
Despite the want to rebel and wipe the infuriating smirks off their faces, he didn't. His body grew tense as he picked up the remaining tools. Naruto didn't look in their direction in fear of his pride surfacing and making him doing something he would regret.
"That's what I thought." Her voice was quite vile despite being a child.
His fists shook in suppressed rage.
Think of happy things. Think of ramen. Naruto took a deep breath. Yeah, ramen sounded good.
He put the tools away before he walked calmly to his usual bench outside.
Perhaps he should've predicted the outcome. Perhaps he should've showed at least a little bit of his strength in order to avoid returning back to Naruto. He hoped everything wouldn't be ruined as the result of his screwup.
He vanished, and the teacher watched in slight intrigue and suspicion.
Naruto's mind raced and his heart sped up. The only outward sign that something was amiss were the tightening of his fists. He looked on to Sasuke's almost blank face, and only his eyes gave any sign to the scope of the confusing mix of emotions. Naruto wanted to stay so badly. It was an instinct that could easily overtake his mind.
But what if he didn't diffuse the situation? He nearly shuddered at the implications. Masako. Naruto remembered her. Not in the most fondest of ways, but he did. She wasn't even his teacher but he needed to remain incognito. His real personality shined through at their meeting and he didn't want more suspicion so early in the game. He needed to go. But he didn't want to and, frankly, Sasuke needed him.
But...
"I have to go, but I promise I'll be back soon."
Sasuke's face turned red. Naruto couldn't tell if it was from annoyance, anger, or sadness.
"Don't bother," Sasuke said in a hollow tone.
It made the ache to stay more poignant.
Naruto merely gave a noncommittal grunt before saying, "we'll meet again soon."
His words were met with silence.
When Naruto arrived at the academy, he was still scouring his brain for a lie that was believable. Usually he would be able to lie with ease but for some unknown reason, his mind was blank. He hoped it would come to him sooner or later.
He scanned the playground. The group of kids that beat him up were gone and, in their place, another group of students were playing. Naruto let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Maybe if he ignored everything and went on as normal, no one would notice.
He hoped so. If that didn't work...Well, he'd cross that bridge when he got to it.
Naruto found some random bench and sat down. Minutes ticked by. His mind wandered to Sasuke. Thoughts of the past and bits of memories he had of him smiling (and not his infuriating smirk) flowed in his head. It was always a rare sight, especially if it was genuine.
He probably over said it in his head, but he missed Sasuke. This Sasuke would never be truly his, but it was pretty damn close. He had nothing to live for if he would never see Sasuke again. Revenge would've been for nothing. It would be counterproductive; if Sasuke died, he would surely follow.
Naruto stared out at the soon-to-be-ninjas. Sakura and Ino were among them. Naruto didn't know if he wanted to go talk to her or run away. The night before he died came to mind. He missed the old Sakura, missed the headstrong girl of his childhood, the one who didn't try to kill him. He chuckled at the irony.
Maybe he should try to befriend her. But then again, he didn't know what would happen and he wanted to make a good impression. He couldn't do that if their first meet was cut short.
He got up from the bench as the teacher signified the end of lunch and walked in the classroom with his eyes downcast, hoping the rest of the day would go by without them noticing him.
No such luck.
The brats from earlier came to his desk and he looked up, tempted to glare them down.
"You." The word was spoken with a mixture of contempt and confusion. "You fucking freak."
Ignore. Don't say anything. Blank expression. Blank expression.
"We're talking to you." They were making a scene. The girl's shrill voice cut through the chatter and noise. Everyone was staring at them. What would shut them up? They continued their onslaught of insults before it hit him.
"I don't know what I did."
Deny it. He gave them the most innocent look he could muster.
The girl grabbed his shirt in one of her fists. "Liar!"
"Hey!" A familiar voice sounded through the room. Sakura? "He did nothing to you. Leave him alone!" The girl let go of his shirt and turned towards the pink-haired girl.
"You really going to stick up for him? The demon?"
"That's enough!" the teacher said; the two hushed. "Take your seats right now. Class started."
The rest of the day went by and the group of students glared at both Sakura and Naruto. He didn't care, he felt giddy. Sakura stood up for him. That alone made him feel special.
This was the time, the time in which he would become friends with Sakura. The future was looking more and more in a positive light. He was so close.
Become friends with his old friends and the odds of surviving would rise.
The feeling of being watched didn't become a huge concern as it should've been before. He felt truly and genuinely happy.
The swing was vacant when he went back. His mood deflated, and he suddenly felt as empty as the swing. He went home that night trying to squash the feeling. Soon, on the tip of his tongue.
The next day, Naruto didn't leave anything up to chance - he went to school himself. It was boring, as was expected, but he couldn't shake the feeling of something he couldn't describe. A sort of foreboding feeling that made his stomach anxious.
It made him uneasy. He decided that it would be best to hold off on attempting to pursue a friendship with Sakura. It wasn't as if Sakura was going anywhere; there was always tomorrow.
After school was over, Naruto headed straight to the orphanage. His mood lightened when he caught sight of Sasuke in the same spot as yesterday. A smile tugged on his lips as he greeted him.
"You again?" Sasuke said.
"Of course. I'm persistent."
Sasuke looked up before lowering his gaze once more. "I don't find this amusing. At all. Leave."
What happened in the space of a day? Sasuke didn't exactly welcome him with open arms yesterday but, today, it seemed as if anger had settled onto his every word.
"Good thing I wasn't trying to be. Amusing, that is." He simply sat on the swing next to him.
Despite Sasuke's hostile attitude, he decided to start off with small talk. Hopefully, Sasuke would warm up to him someday.
"Do you go to school?"
"No."
"What's your favorite food?" He knew the answer but wanted to ask anyway.
"Why would I tell you? Matter of fact, why do you want to know? Please, just leave."
"When I said we were going to be friends, I meant it."
"Hn," was all Sasuke said before getting up and leaving.
Naruto's heart constricted as he watched Sasuke walk away. Before Sasuke walked through the door, he yelled, "I'll be back tomorrow! Don't worry!"
Sasuke stiffened as he turned around with a glare.
"Don't!" he shouted before slamming the door behind him.
Another smile played on Naruto's lips before it slowly faded away. Not that he didn't expect the reaction, he just...he just wanted everything to be perfect now.
If only he was so lucky.
It tasted like ash on his tongue, a dry, hollow taste that reminded him of his childhood. Sasuke continued forward and tried not to dwell on how long all of this was taking. It had only been two weeks but it felt like an eternity underneath the pressure of trying to do the impossible.
Sasuke knew he would find no answers in either of the villages. The only person he knew was Orochimaru and he was long gone. No, Sasuke needed to go farther than any village. He needed to go west.
How did one prep for a year long journey on sea? He would ask someone but he feared recognition. The WANTED posters his village put up did nothing to soothe that fear. He was now bald and that drastically changed his appearance. He also figured it would take care of the possibility of lice. He heard stories of what goes on on the bottom of ships. Disease and vermin were apparently in abundance. The thought made him cringe but he knew he could bear it.
Stealing would be his next venture. Actually paying for stuff? He almost laughed. Sasuke might not be in Konoha, but everyone was guilty. No one deserved to be alive when Naruto wasn't.
Sasuke put on his best smile as he went into a clothing store of one of the vermin. She had no customers and he internally smiled. This would be easier than he thought.
Her eyes weren't puffy but red tinged around the edges, her wedding ring was lying on the table to her left and her make-up looked like it was done in a hurry. It took no time to deduce that she was having marital problems.
"Miss, I'm sorry to bother you but are you okay?" He sounded so normal, so much like them.
Years of torture didn't do away with his charm or his good looks either, despite his baldness. Sasuke's skin might be a bit too pale and scars might litter his body like stickers on a child's notebook, but, other than that, nothing changed too drastically.
"Is it that obvious?" She wrinkled her nose.
"Yeah. What happened? Is there anything I can help you with?"
He used his best sympathetic, caring voice he could muster. He wanted her to feel what he wanted her to feel, and it would only take a few well placed smiles and encouraging words. Trapping her would be easy. After all, she was in emotional distress and it was related to a spouse. Easy picking.
"Not much, well, unless you can travel back in time to shake the sense into me." She laughed bitterly, and Sasuke gave her a small apologetic smile. She returned it.
"I understand. I don't know if our situations are the same but probably close. My ex cheated on me with my best friend."
Sasuke wanted to laugh at the lie but held in his amusement. If she could relate to him, she would let her guard down.
"Really? Whoever your ex-girlfriend is, she's stupid," she said.
He smiled. "Your spouse is stupid as well. Who could ever hurt a pretty lady like you?"
She giggled and a blush dusted her cheeks.
"Thank you, Mister...?"
"You can call me Shinobu. And may I have the pleasure of getting your name?"
"Ah, yes, it's Hagu. Nice to meet you," she said while bowing.
How traditional. He nearly curled his lips.
"Nice to meet you, too! I don't want to stop but I have to get back to my son. I hate leaving him all alone."
It was all so laughably easy. A few well-worded bullshit lines were all he needed and she was eating from the palm of his hands just as planned.
"We have a kid, too. I know how that gets."
He gives her a small bow and a smile before walking over to look through the clothes on the rack. It was all very plain, consisting of neutral colors and common designs. They were perfect for his trip. His eyes traveled back to Hagu who immediately looked away.
He was so good.
"Hagu-san, do you mind if I used your bathroom? Well, I mean if you're uncomfortable with a customer using your bathroom. I could always go somewhere else."
"No! No, I mean it'll be no problem. Come this way."
She led the way upstairs. No sign of life. That was good. His smirk turned devious.
"Thanks for letting me use your bathroom, Hagu-san. I really appreciate it."
"Like I said before, it's no problem."
She waved her hand in front of her face before turning around. Her back was turned to him.
Should he spare her life?
Sasuke gave it a thought. Did they spare Naruto's life? Hatred burned in the pits of his stomach. Mercy? In this world, there was no true mercy.
Sasuke crept ever so closer. Slow or fast? He merely glanced over her pictures before he made up his mind.
He loved the feel of blood, did he not?
Note: So I kind of laughed hysterically when I chose the names. The kanji for Shinobu means patience and I thought of future Sasuke and I don't know I just found it so funny. And halfway through I realized I picked names from Honey and Clover. Ha, oh well.
So I've edited previous chapters and changed some things with the amazing advice from my beta. Go check it out if you're interested.
I have a tumblr if you ever want to get a hold of me. My url is sydbull. I follow back and I'm always willing to make new friends. :D
As always, any type of feedback is greatly appreciated. :3