Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. *sob* I also don't own any of the songs used.

Chapter Four

Sasuke wandered the halls of the school by himself, since he wasn't in the mood for the happy-go-lucky reunion that his bandmates and their girlfriends had planned in the cafeteria. He had been able to stand it for a little while, but he left shortly after Hinata ran away. He could tell after that that things weren't going to go down a very nice path, so he'd decided right away that it would be in his best interest to just leave. He wouldn't be able to keep his patience around his friends when they were faced with another one of their "crises". He just wasn't in the mood.

He did like being around them... sometimes. They were funny and amused him. But he just couldn't take their lovey dovey moments. For one, he didn't have a girlfriend and everyone was prancing around acting like they'd been infected with the love disease and there was absolutely no cure. The symptoms included being more annoying than any single person could stand to take. Maybe he would be able to endure it if he wasn't single himself, but although he'd had admirers since he was six years old, no girl exactly had the courage to go on a date with him. If his last name didn't intimidate them, then the persona that his peers built for him certainly did. And it was hard for girls to get over all that. He was destined to be alone forever.

It wasn't so depressing when they were on tour. At least when it was just the band, it was just the band. Although there were screaming fangirls, there wasn't exactly any relationships going on. He and his friends just had each other and used one another to battle the crippling loneliness that comes with being popular wherever they went.

But now they were home, and he had to deal with that alone.

Itachi graduated last year and was busy making their father proud as the top ranking rookie in their family's police force. Naruto had been acting strange ever since he visited Konoha right before deciding to come home. Besides, he had Sakura to keep him busy now. Kiba had Hinata and Shikamaru had Ino. Who did he have? What did he have? Nothing.

Sasuke jammed his fists into the pockets of his khakis and lowered his head to scowl angrily at the ground. But he really should have been paying attention to where he was going because he took one step around the corner at the end of the hall and ended up slamming himself into the body of another, smaller, poor human figure.

The force of the impact caused the two of them to repel from one another like magnets of the same charge. Sasuke flew back and landed hard on his butt, squeezing his eyes shut on impact with the harsh tiled floors. He heard another thud and a squeak and then the shuffle of papers and books and pencils as they clattered to the ground around them.

"Ouch!" The other person, a female, hissed in annoyance. Sasuke could relate to how she felt. He was annoyed. Why hadn't she been watching where she was going? Stupid, stupid girl. He opened his eyes to glare at his attacker and paused, met with the fiery, intense gray eyes of a tiny girl - a freshman at most. Why was she glaring at him? Girls didn't glare at him! Besides, this was all her fault. "Why don't you watch where you're going, duckbutt?" she growled.

Shocked, Sasuke was at a loss of words for a moment. But after realizing that the girl was still glaring at him, he found them. "Me? You bumped into me you... you... freshman!"

She narrowed her eyes at him as if trying to calculate his intelligence. "Are you kidding me? Is that the best that you can do?"

"What?"

She rolled her eyes and started gathering her things up around her with a huff. "You must be really stupid. I don't have time for this. I'm already late for class," she grumbled to herself. She shoved everything into her backpack unceremoniously and stood up to go. "I hope you find your tongue." And then she stormed off.

Stunned, Sasuke continued to sit there. Had she really made fun of his hair?

Naruto sat silently in the chair across from the principle, frowning to himself. His fingers fidgeted in his lap and he tried to understanding all that Tsunade explained to him. No, he didn't want to change himself just so the people that supported his dad would like him, but he didn't want those same people to take away their investment and ruin the company that his dad built from the ground up. It would break his dad's heart if it all got ruined because his son decided to be a little selfish. Besides, he wouldn't need to change exactly. Not on the inside, just in public. Yeah.

"O-Okay, yeah. I'll do it," he finally answered. "When's the first lesson on how not to be me?"

Tsunade looked at the young heir with startled amber eyes. It was clear that she hadn't expected Naruto to give in that easily. Especially after Minato told her just how successful Naruto's "gentleman classes" were last year. She'd expected at least some kind of a verbal battle.

"That's it? You'll just give in?"

Naruto shrugged listlessly and looked down at his hands. "It's for my dad. He's always taken care of me and done what I needed him to do. I guess it's my turn. At least until he's okay," he said quietly, very uncharacteristic of him.

The older woman watched him suspiciously for a moment before she decided that he must have been sincere. She nodded once and went into a drawer in her desk, retrieving a single sheet of paper. "First things first, I'm going to need you to allow me to release your real name to the press."

Naruto looked at her, confused. "What?"

She slid the paper onto the desk, along with a pen. "Shortly after the passing of your mother, I remember you insisting to your father that he begin to call you Uzumaki, not Namikaze. You began to renounce your name so passionately that he started to believe you were ashamed of it and him, maybe even that you blamed him a little for what happened to her. He was so heartbroken, but he did as you asked and stopped claiming you as a Namikaze. He didn't take you out with him as much, and preferred that the two of you spent time together indoors where you were more comfortable. He also made Jiraiya and I sign a promisary agreement, stating that neither one of us was to release the name of your father, so that you could fully turn your back on the Namikaze name like you wished. If asked, Jiraiya was your caretaker and guardian. But I think it would be beneficial to your image if you allowed me to release your name and secret to the press. Although it's no secret here who your father is, there are still parts of the country and world where the Namikaze heir is still lost. If we officially release this story, it may help to erase that rockstar image of you and replace it with a reunion story of you and your father's reconciliation."

Naruto stared at her for a moment, jaw slightly slack. He tried to process Tsunade's plan in his mind while also coming to terms with what he'd just learned about why his dad had agreed to him unofficially changing his name. It had never been his intention for his dad to think that he was ashamed of him - although the shame and embarrassment came later due simply to how his dad behaved - or that he blamed him for what happened to his mom. He just didn't want to be picked on because other kids were jealous of him because of who is father was. And when he got to middle school, that turned into not wanting to be treated differently because of it. But he'd never meant to hurt his dad's feelings.

He stared at Tsunade, his eyebrows furrowed. "A reunion story? But my dad and I have never been separated. We've always been together."

Tsunade nodded. "Yes, but the press doesn't know that, Naruto. You completely dropped off the face of the Earth to the real world. Something like that doesn't just happen so suddenly, especially when you seemed to be so bubbly and happy in the lime light as a child. No one could explain why it happened, or why your father seemed to be grieving whenever they asked him about you." Tsunade reached into that same drawer where she'd gotten the agreement papers and pulled out a newspaper article. It was wrinkled and yellow with age. She slapped it onto the desk and Naruto leaned over to read it. He almost gasped as he read: The End of a Legacy? : Young Heir to Namikaze Name Dead along with Mother!

He sat back, eyes bugged. "But I wasn't... Dad didn't tell them that, did he?" He stammered, afraid that his grieving father had killed him off to make things easier.

Tsunade shook her head. "No, but he didn't need to. They came to that conclusion on their own. He never agreed or disagreed with the allegations, but the press took it as fact. You and your mother were in the same place, you disappeared shortly after the funeral, and your dad stopped talking about you when he used to brag all day about his pride and joy."

"But... Dead?"

Tsunade nodded her head again. "Dead. Consider yourself lucky. It made it easier for you to renounce your name like you wanted to."

"I didn't want to-!"

She held up a hand, silencing him. "Regardless of what you wanted, will you sign the agreement so that we can refute these allegations?" she asked, pointing to the original piece of paper.

Without thinking, Naruto grabbed the pen that Tsunade held out for him. He leaned forward and scribbled his chicken scratch over the dotted line, frowning to himself.

"Yeah, okay."

It was Sakura's free period and she decided to go straight to her room rather than the library because it was less likely people would try to come find her in her room than the library. She enjoyed being the vice president of the student body, but it definitely had its downsides. Sometimes she just liked to be alone.

She frowned to herself and plopped down on her bed, the same bed that she'd had the year before with Hinata and Ino and Tenten. She hadn't wanted to actually have this room this year, especially seeing as how the boy's hadn't been back from their tour yet and she'd missed Naruto so much that the idea of his old room being across the hall just sort of brought her spirits down, but Ino had begged and pleaded so much to stay in the beautiful room that Sakura had no choice to agree. Besides, she didn't want to ruin anyone else's fun just because Naruto wouldn't be there anymore.

But he was back now. And as she looked towards her own closed door that led into the hallway, she wondered if he would want to be in his old room, too. He seemed like he liked it last year, but he'd traveled the world so much over the past year (she'd followed the tour for the first few months via the media) and had probably stayed in hotel rooms across the world that were ten times better than that room. Besides, he seemed in quite the hurry to get out of the cafeteria when he spotted her - she'd caught him staring at her before he bolted. Would he even want to be around her anymore? Did he lose his feelings for her and just didn't know how to tell her?

Sakura groaned quietly to herself. That would be just what she deserved. Naruto had had a crush on her for years and she only just now begun to acknowledge his feelings. It would only be the works of Karma if suddenly Naruto realized that he just didn't like her that way, when Sakura herself felt that he was all that she wanted.

"Naruto..." Sakura mumbled, flopping back on her own bed.

"What about him?" A voice called from behind her. Sakura whirled around to spot Tenten coming out of the bathroom with her hair abnormally down her back and out of her usual buns. The strands were wet and water droplets dripped onto the white carpet. She must have been in the shower.

Sakura swallowed, eyes wide. She'd thought she was alone. Her roommates all had classes this period. "What are you doing here, Tenten?"

The brunette shrugged and moved fully into the room, plopping down at the single desk in the room. "I'm a senior. I'm entitled to the occassional skip. But last period was gym so I decided to shower." She stuck her tongue out. "I repeat, what about Naruto?"

Sakura sighed at the repeat of the blonde boy's name. With it came the tumble of all of her insecurities. "I don't think he likes me anymore, let alone loves me," she groaned, laying on her bed in distress.

The older girl frowned and sat in the chair so that the back of it pressed against her chest. "What makes you think that? Did he write you a letter?" she asked, already sounding sympathetic.

In the beginning, Naruto and Sakura had exchanged a few letters back and forth to keep in touch. But with Naruto moving around so much it got hard for Sakura to tell where she should send the letter. So they'd both decided that it was too much trouble and they would talk when they got the chance. Every once in a while she'd get a postcard from him, but that was it.

The pinkette shook her head. "No. But I saw him today in the cafeteria and he... well, he kind of ran out of there when he saw me."

Tenten furrowed her eyebrows. "He's back?"

"Stay focused, Ten."

The older girl waved her off. "Yeah, okay. Well, did he say that he was done with you?"

"Do not say it like that!"

"Like what?"

"'Done with me'" Sakura repeated, a look of disgust on her face. "It makes me feel like a toy."

The brunette rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over the top of the back of the chair. "Okay, whatever. Did he say that he didn't like you anymore?"

Sakura groaned. Sometimes she felt like Tenten never listened to her. "No! Didn't I just tell you that he left as soon as he saw me?"

Tenten smirked. "So he never said that?"

"He didn't say anything."

"So you're jumping to conclusions because he didn't say hi?" Tenten concluded, raising a dark eyebrow. She shook her head to herself. "For all you know, he could have been busy."

"Well, that's what Hinata said but I figured..."

Tenten scoffed. "So Hinata told you why he left, and you're still sitting here moping? What the hell is wrong with you, forehead?" she scolded, adopting the vicious elementary school nickname that Ino bestowed her with. "Even if he is avoiding you, he can't do it forever. If you think he doesn't want to date you, ask him about it. Jeez, Sakura. I thought you were smarter than this. Didn't we go through a similar situation with Naruto last year?"

Sakura nodded slowly, recalling when Tenten and Ino cornered her and Hinata in the bathroom for a little bit of counseling on their boy troubles. And here she was, spilling the same story to Tenten; only this time, she was the one assuming instead of Naruto, and they were in their dorm room instead of a bathroom.

"I... Well..." Sakura sighed, not knowing what else to say. "I guess I could ask Minato-sensei about where I could find Naruto. If they aren't together, he would at least know where Naruto would be."

Tenten smiled at her friend. "That's putting that brain to work. Lemme know how it goes." She stood up and started heading for the door.

Sakura stared at her curiously. "Where are you going?"

Tenten flashed her a mischievous smirk over her shoulder. "Oh, since I'm more than positive that my boyfriend likes me, I'm going to force him to take me to lunch this period. Don't wait up." And then before Sakura could throw something at her head, Tenten left and shut the door behind her.

Sakura scowled after her. "I'll show her."

A/N I'm way more than a little disappointed in myself. I saw that I'd only written three chapters for this story! Three! And I haven't updated since December. Who does that? I do. Because I suck. Feel free to review with how much of a horrible author I am for keeping you waiting.

I hope this is worth it since I set up a plot and a few minor subplots in this chapter. I'll try to update much, much faster.

Comments, questions, concerns? REVIEW.