Chapter Four: Accusations
The next morning…
Sasuke suddenly blinked his eyes open to see a white ceiling staring back at him. A bright sun streamed in from his window, and he turned over to stare out at the sky. The sun shone high overhead. Morning already? …How long was I asleep?
He sat up straight in bed, and glanced at the analog clock that hung on the wall across the room. It's nine o'clock now, and I'm way behind schedule. I was supposed to have started training four hours ago.
Sasuke sighed, pulling off the blue sheets. What a party… I didn't get home till three in the morning. Oh, well; might as well start training now.
Sasuke finally got out of bed, but the moment he stood up, he suddenly noticed a nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach. That's funny… I could have sworn I was feeling fine just a second ago.
He tried to ignore it, but his attempts were in vain, and pretty soon, he found himself making a wild dash for the bathroom.
About fifteen minutes later…
There, that's better… should've known not to trust Naruto's cooking… oh well, time for some major training now, as I have a lot of catching up to do, Sasuke concluded before changing out of his pajamas, grabbing a kunai, and heading outside.
In time, he reached a vacant forest clearing. Let's start off with enlarging my Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu… Sasuke swiftly summoned up his chakra, but he could feel something was off.
Yet the feeling—although worrisome—wasn't actually causing any sort of anguish, he simply disregarded it, slightly opened his mouth, and blew, automatically expecting an inferno of flames to burst out. Yet nothing did!
Sasuke furrowed his brow in confusion. What?! Why isn't it working?! Panic began to envelope him, a strange and foreign feeling he hadn't experience since his first encounter with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death a few months ago. What's wrong with me?!
Sasuke tried again, forming the exact same hand signs he'd practiced all his life. He closed his eyes, deep in concentration. Okay! I can do this! Then, he opened his eyes, drew in a deep breath, and blew…
…Only to see the same result.
A terrifying chill began to run up Sasuke's spin. My Fireball Jutsu isn't working! What if…What if none of my jutsus work?! The frightening realization was more than Sasuke was willing to accept, and he remained determined.
First, he tried to activate his Sharingan eye by focusing his chakra to his eyes, but apparently—just like with his Fireball Jutsu—he couldn't feel the slightest presence of his chakra. So, in a last-ditch moment of desperation, he bent down slightly and tried to gather chakra in his left hand.
Come on! Come on! Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration when no blue sparks of chakra came into view. Just like his other two jutsus, his chidori had now failed him, too.
Sasuke finally resigned himself from trying any more jutsus. Instead, he just stared at his now-trembling hands in horror. W-why is this happening? I can't feel my chakra flow… What's going on? Why do I feel so…powerless?
By now, panic was overwhelming him, and all of a sudden, Sasuke felt small and meek…just like when Itachi had rendered him helpless five years ago…
Sasuke shoved that thought aside. …I…I've got to calm down and think straight… Let's see… Just yesterday, I was performing my jutsus just fine… That is, before Naruto's party…
Suddenly, something clicked in Sasuke's mind… That's right… it was only today, after Naruto's party, that I've lost the ability to perform ninjutsu! Unless something—or someone—did something to me while I was asleep…
Sasuke quickly brushed that possibility aside. I'm a light sleeper; I would've known if someone did something to me in my sleep. So the only possible conclusion is… Naruto…
His eyes flamed in fury at the thought of his teammate's name… It must've been his cooking. Who knows what he put in it?
With a fiery determination to get his ninjutsu back, he rapidly rushed towards Naruto's apartment.
Before abruptly stopping in his tracks. Wait… if the cause of my lost ninjutsu is due to Naruto's cooking… then could it be possible that other people at Naruto's house lost their ninjutsu, too?
At Sakura's…Alone in her room, Sakura stood in front of her dresser and tied her Leaf Village headband on top of her pale pink hair. There.
She tried to smile at her reflection in the mirror, but couldn't. She sighed. Ever since this morning, I haven't felt so good…
She raised her arm and placed her hand on her forehead. Ugh. I'm starting to burn up a little… This isn't good.
Aw, man! And I was planning to go to Sasuke's apartment today!
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, but Sakura didn't feel like answering it this time. "Could someone get that, please?" she hollered.
Sakura stepped away from her mirror and slightly opened the sliding door of her room. Sticking her head out the door, she tried to see who was at the front door.
"Sakura, it's Sasuke! He wants to talk to you!"
"Sasuke?" Sakura's eyes glimmered with hope. Abruptly, all of her energy seemed to return as she happily bounded over to the door. "Hey, Sasuke! What's up?"
Unfortunately, Sasuke wasn't as cheerful as Sakura was, which made her wide smile falter a bit.
"Sasuke… what's—"
"I'm going to try and punch you."
"What?!"
"And you're going to try a substitution jutsu to avoid it."
"Wait, Sasuke, what's this all about?"
"Just do it." Sasuke's impatient and serious tone of voice made a reluctant and utterly baffled Sakura obey.
Positioning herself a good few meters away from Sasuke, she hollered, "Ready!"
Sasuke stared at her for a moment. "You want to stand all the way over there?"
"Well, yeah!" Sakura insisted, "C'mon, Sasuke! Hit me with your best shot!"
Sasuke shrugged. "Okay, you're asking for it," he said dubiously. He formed a tight fist in his right hand, and then fell into a fighting stance. "Here it comes."
Sakura braced herself for the attack. When Sasuke charged at her, she quickly performed the simple hand signs needed to perform the jutsu. Sasuke then thrust his arm out in a swift, powerful punch. "Take this!"
What happened next was completely unexpected. Instead of vanishing in a puff on pink smoke with a log in her place, Sakura felt the full force of the blow collide with her forehead! Before she knew it, she flew across the front hallway, and then crashed through the sliding door of her room.
Sasuke drew his arm back, scowling slightly in regret. Uh…that went well…
He gave her a moment to get out of her room, but when he didn't hear any trace of movement, he decided to go in after her. Sliding open the now-ruined door, he said her name softly, "Sakura?"
He was about to say more, until he noticed the state she was in: on her back with her legs and arms raised and twitching, her eyes glazed over with a small stream of drool dripping down her mouth, a ring of stars encircling her head, and a huge bruise on her forehead.
"Ow…" was all a very dazed Sakura could say.
Sasuke winced. Okay…maybe I overdid it…
Tentatively, he walked over to her. "Hey, uh, are you…okay?"
"Of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be?" Sakura immediately answered with a strained smile on her face, getting up instantly, before letting out a forced-out laugh.
Darn, that hurts! Why did Sasuke hit me so hard?! Furthermore… why didn't my substitution jutsu work?!
Of course she only said all of this to appear "tough" in Sasuke's eyes, but he could easily see through it.
There was this enormous forming bruise on her forehead. Yet instead of pointing it out, Sasuke stated, "This confirms that I'm not the only one that lost my ninjutsu."
"Wait, what do you mean that you lost your ninjutsu?"
Sasuke didn't want to get into the details. "When I woke up this morning, I couldn't use my Fireball Jutsu, my Sharingan, or my Chidori," he summarized, "And that's never happened before."
Sakura—though still confused—thought about it for a moment. "How odd," she remarked, "Those are all chakra-based jutsus…"
Sasuke nodded. "When I was attempting my jutsus, I felt this strange absence of chakra. I can't describe it, but I'm sure you felt it, too…just now."
Sakura tried to think back to when she tried to perform her substitution jutsu. "Huh… I didn't even stop to think about that, but now that you mention it, I have to agree," Sakura stated. Her brow furrowed in apprehension. "But what do you think this means? Does it really mean that we can't perform ninjutsu anymore? That's crazy! This has got to be a temporary ailment or something!"
"I-I don't know," Sasuke replied, trying to sound calm and cool, but that was the exact opposite of how he was feeling at the moment. I want to believe this to be something temporary—something that's no big deal… But I can't… It is a big deal, and until we get to the bottom of this, who knows what'll happen next? What if we never get our ninjutsu back?
The same sense of panic began to creep up on Sasuke again, but he refused to succumb to it. He opened his mouth to speak, but Sakura cut him off.
"Hold it," she began, "Didn't you say you couldn't use your jutsus since this morning?"
"Yeah. They worked fine just yesterday."
"But that means that…"
Sasuke nodded. "Uh-huh. Naruto."
Sakura immediately frowned. "But why would Naruto cancel out our ninjutsu?"
Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe he was jealous of our progress or something."
"That's not the Naruto we know!"
"Is it?"
Sakura frowned yet again. …I want to believe that Naruto wouldn't do something like this… but it's happening to us right now, and it only happened after the party, and the only thing that could've affected us at the party was the food, and Naruto was the one cooking the food…
"But what if he's just such a bad cook? I mean, he did cook it kind of fast, and so—" Sakura provided.
"It still means that Naruto's the cause of our inability to perform jutsus. And since it's true… I say we pay a visit to Naruto."
Sakura wanted to protest, but couldn't get the words out of her throat. There's no harm in paying a visit to Naruto, but how are we supposed to explain this to him? We can't just go to his place and accuse him of robbing us of our ninjutsu. Besides, I can't imagine him pulling off something so cruel…
In the end, all she could say was: "Okay, I guess."
By the time they reached Naruto's apartment, both Sasuke and Sakura were surprised that no one answered the door.
"Maybe he's still asleep?" Sakura suggested.
"It was ten o'clock when we left your house," Sasuke stated, "Naruto never sleeps in late." He scowled, a wave of anger rising in his voice. "He's probably run off to hide so no one would come looking for him."
Sakura bit her lip. "We don't even know if he did it, Sasuke," she replied softly, quickly losing confidence in her own words.
Sasuke glared at her. "Well, what do you think?" he asked impatiently, "Who else could have done it but Naruto? All the facts point to him. Sure, there were a lot of people at the party—practically the whole village showed up—but he was the only one that prepared the food. You and I both know that, Sakura. And I know we don't want to blame Naruto, but what other choice do we have?"
Sakura stared down at the floor, unable to meet Sasuke's eyes. Though she didn't want to admit it, she had to agree with him in every way.
Sasuke sighed in irritation, and then raised his fist to knock on the door once more.
Still no answer.
"Let's just go home, Sasuke," Sakura said, "If he's not home, there's nothing else we can do."
But Sasuke wasn't about to resign himself to going home just yet. He wanted his ninjutsu back, and he was determined to get to the bottom of this. Instinctively, he lowered his hand to the doorknob and turned it slowly. Though he didn't really expect it to be unlocked, he turned the knob and was surprised to find that the door actually opened.
Sakura let out a gasp. "Sasuke!" she whispered, "What do you think you're doing?!"
Sasuke held a finger to his lips. "I need some answers," he explained in a low voice, opening the door wider as he stepped into Naruto's house.
Elsewhere, a steadily increasing crowd of livid villagers began to form…
But, meanwhile…
Someone was having…
Err, problems…
Darn! Why does my stomach hurt so much? Must've been the food I cooked yesterday… I did cook it kinda fast…
Crash!
What was that?! Is someone trying to break in my apartment?! Wait… that noise came from the inside of… that means that someone is actually in my apartment!!!!
Hastily, Naruto finished his bathroom business before quietly grabbing his plumber to ward off whoever was in his house.
In the meantime…A small potted plant smashed to the ground with a loud crash that seemed to resonate throughout the small kitchen.
Sasuke instantly glanced back at the sound of the crash, only to see Sakura standing next to the fallen plant, whose pot had shattered into a couple dozen pieces. "Shh!" he hissed. "We've got to be careful! He still might be at home!"
Sakura winced. "Sorry," she whispered back. Naruto's such a mess, though, and after last night's party… this whole place is like a landmine. Just one wrong step, and you could set off an explosion—I mean, who puts a fragile potted plant on the edge of a countertop next to the front door?
Suddenly, the bathroom door burst open with Naruto standing in the doorway, waving a plumber threateningly in the air. "Okay! Okay! Where are you, trespasser? C'mon! Show yourself! And just what do you think you're doing in my house?!" He tried to sound brave, but it was quite clear that he was panicking on the inside.
Sasuke scowled. Oh, great… Busted…
Sakura just stared at Naruto blankly. "Naruto?"
"Huh?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded. Though he had glanced around the kitchen quickly, he had somehow failed to manage his two teammates standing right across the room from him. "Oh, it's you guys!"
"What are you two doing here? Have you seen the trespasser?" Naruto continued.
Sasuke was resolute not to answer any of Naruto's questions till Naruto answered his, but before he could interrogate Naruto…
"Wait! Are you two the trespassers?!" Naruto finally realized, gaping at them in shock.
"You shouldn't have left your door open for us to simply walk in then," Sasuke defensively said.
Naruto shot Sasuke a heated glare, which Sasuke returned with equal fury. Before Sakura could intervene, Naruto practically shouted, "Well can you blame me? I was all excited for my birthday and people kept coming in and out and in and out and I didn't know when everybody left so I just left it open in case anyone wanted to come back and party some more and—"
"QUIET!!!!!" Sakura yelled, which shut Naruto up pretty quickly and allowed Sasuke to have a chance to ask Naruto his questions—the whole point of coming to Naruto's apartment, anyway.
"What did you do that made us lose our ninjutsu?" Sasuke bluntly asked, which Sakura thought sounded more like an accusation than a mere question.
Frowning in bafflement, Naruto replied with a question: "What are you talking about?"
"What he means…" Sakura began—before Sasuke said anything rash, "Is that—since this morning, we lost the ability to perform any jutsus, and—since our ninjutsu worked last night—we were wondering if… well, if you had anything to do with it."
"Huh? You lost your jutsus?" Naruto repeated, even more confused than before. "What? Okay, back it up. What the heck are you guys talking about?!"
Sasuke scoffed. "I don't know if you're just playing dumb, but I guess it couldn't have been you. After all, you're too stupid to pull off a stunt like this," he remarked coldly.
Naruto glared at his rival. "Too stupid?! I'll show you who's too stupid!" He was about to lunge for Sasuke, but Sakura stepped in between the two before a war could break out.
"That's enough," she stated flatly. "Both of you, cut it out." She then faced Naruto, looking him straight in the eyes. "Now tell us, Naruto: do you have any idea what could have happened at your party last night that could have robbed us of our ninjutsu abilities?"
"No!" Naruto insisted, "What makes you think I know anything about this thing in the first place, Sakura?"
"Because you must have done something to our food that keeps us from using our chakra," Sasuke blurted.
Sakura shot Sasuke a look of disapproval, but it was already too late. The full wait of Sasuke's words slowly began to sink into Naruto's mind.
At first, Naruto had thought they were just messing with him, but now he knew. They were dead serious about losing their ninjutsu abilities, and they were accusing him for it.
"Well, if you think I had anything to do with your guys' problem, you're wrong! I didn't do anything to the food! Honest!" Naruto insisted, trying desperately to convince his friends that he was innocent. "I'll admit that my cooking isn't the best, but I don't have any idea about what you two are talking about with this 'losing your jutsus' thing! I don't even know how to do that sort of stuff! And even if I did, why would I?!"
It was the same question that Sakura had asked herself so many times, but still couldn't find a good answer in Naruto's defense. She decided to remain silent, but not Sasuke; he a good number of reasons against Naruto. Yet before he could open his mouth to attack him, a horde of irate villagers crowded in through Naruto's front door.
At the front of the group was some of his friends: Kiba, Shikamaru, and Ino, followed by Chouji, Rock Lee, Shino, Neji, TenTen, and Hinata. All of them wore frowns on their faces, and at that moment, they seemed like they wanted to attack Naruto as well.
Kiba: What did you do to our ninjutsu abilities?!
Shikamaru: Something happened at your party, Naruto! One moment I'm fine, and the next, I can't perform my Shadow Possession Jutsu!
Ino: The whole village is here, Naruto! And we want some answers!
Naruto stared at them, all the angry faces. Everyone in the whole village was mad at him and Naruto wasn't even sure why. He felt like the whole world hated him, despised him just for being who he was—just for being the vessel for the nine-tailed fox. The way they all looked at him with such hatred…it made his spine tingle with an all-too-familiar sorrow. Just when he couldn't bear it anymore, he turned to face Sasuke and Sakura for support, but they just looked at him the same way the rest of the villagers did. They, too, were accusing Naruto of a crime he knew he didn't commit. But there was no way he could get them to believe him. And—just like he had in the past—Naruto felt completely alone.
A/N:
Princess Malika: I love the beginning of this chapter… so many LOL! But I don't like the end! I didn't write the end! I'd never put Naruto through such torture… (tear, tear!) TT Anyways, for all of you who were impatient for the main point of the story to finally happen… it did! So, who do you think it is?
Craftygirl: Well, I loved writing that last part! 'Course I feel bad for Naruto, but I just loved how that final paragraph summed up everything and even brought back dreaded past memories. Well, I don't have much else to say. Hope you liked this chapter, though! It was a lot of fun to write (e.g. the Sasuke punching Sakura part. LOL.) As always, please R&R!