A/N: I wanted to actually have this chapter out before the end of the year, but oh well it's out now. This chapter is yet another shorty and it's kinda meh. I suppose it's better than nothing, right? Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I wouldn't have to work so damn much to keep food on the table and keep my ass in school.


Chapter Seven: One Reality


For all of Naruto's rage, the blond just turned around and began walking away.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Kyuubi screamed. "You need to rip that sleazy bitch up and paint the village red with her blood! (1)"

"Not today, not tomorrow, and not ever. I don't need to put my life in jeopardy just because she decided she wanted to suck Sasuke's dick," the ramen lover gritted out.

"She's handed you all the reason you need to do it on a silver platter. Take the shit and run, kit."

"No."

The nine tails continued to try and get the hokage hopeful to change his mind, but the Uzumaki stood firm in his decision. It was then that Sakura decided to speak up.

"There he goes running again, Ino," the pinkette scoffed. "I can't see how anyone could believe it was anyone other than Tsunade-shishou who beat me up. This fucking coward would never dream of it."

In a blink of an eye, Naruto was in front of the green eyed medic nin, his tonto at the her neck and his killer intent putting her in a state of paralysis.

"If there is something I never liked about you, Sakura, it's that you never knew when to be quiet, but there are few ways that I can help you learn that lesson. One way is to cut your vocal chords right out of your throat and dance on them while you die of blood loss. A less gruesome option is to simply put a seal on said vocal chords so that I can regulate when you decide to grace the world with your whiny voice. I'm personally a fan of the former," the jinchuuriki chuckled darkly.

The cherry blossom began to weep quietly in fear that her ex would actually kill her. The blond laughed in the face of the girl's crocodile tears and spoke once more.

"Pitiful girl, I won't do either of those things, but I'll let you in on a little truth about me since you seem to have no clue. Yes, I did run off when I found out that you wanted to be a cum dump for duck ass. If I had stayed, I would have killed you scum sucking twats. In fact, I still dream of all the ways that I could murder the two of you, but I digress. My point is that the village is big enough for you and your wretched snake to avoid me until my homicidal rage decides to dissipate. Until then, you should not cross me. Do you understand?" the Namikaze smiled twistedly.

Sakura nodded as much as she could.

"Good! Now that that's cleared up, have a good night and remember what I said, pinky," the ramen lover said putting his weapon away and leaping to the roof tops, his silent companion hot on his heels.

Once Naruto and his partner were out of sight, Ino stood beside Sakura.

"Coward, huh?" the blonde asked. "No, I think he knows that there are more important things than retribution and revenge unlike someone else we both know."

"Shut up, pig and let's go home," the pinkette snapped as she furiously wiped the tears from her face.

"As you wish, billboard brow."

0-0-0-0-0

Itachi and Naruto continued to leap from roof top to roof top in what was becoming their customary silence, but in that quiet the blond could practically hear the wheels turning in Itachi's mind.

"Is there something you'd like to say to me?" the ramen lover queried.

"I have no statements to make, only questions to ask," the raven replied immediately.

"You can ask, but I can't guarantee an answer."

If Itachi was anyone else he might have complained about how tight lipped Naruto seemed to be about his feelings and his life in general. He didn't understand what the frog summoner really had to hide, but getting over that, he asked the least invasive question he could think of.

"Then let me start with are we heading to the Hokage Tower to talk with Tsunade-sama?"

"Yes."

"Are you truly upset with her actions towards the pink haired girl we just encountered?"

"No."

"Then why are we headed in her direction?"

"You'll find out won't you?"

"I find your indirectness mildly irritating," the Uchiha replied.

"And I already told you how I feel about your curiosity," the Namikaze said with fake cheer.

The former Akatsuki member grunted in annoyance as the pair descended upon their destination and walked inside.

0-0-0-0-0

Tsunade stood, looking out of the windows of her office. Normally, she would be in one of the seedier ninja bars drunk and feeling nostalgic, but not on this night. Instead, she waited patiently for a certain gaki to arrive. It was at that moment that the door to her office opened and she felt Naruto's all too familiar chakra signature.

"Hello, gaki," the hokage turned to face her guests.

"Baa-chan," the blond teen answered.

"What can I do for you this evening?"

"You can tell me about what happened when I left."

Tsunade motioned for Naruto and Itachi to each take a seat as she closed the door. The pair did as they were silently instructed and waited for the Godaime to begin.

"As soon as you told me what happened, I was upset with Sakura for a couple of reasons and saw fit to punish," the slug summoner said as she made her way back to her desk.

The frog summoner raised an eyebrow at this.

'You were upset? What for? It's not like you got to watch the people you love most fuck each other like there was no tomorrow,' the ramen lover thought.

"My first reason was that she sat here and promised me that she didn't have feelings for Sasuke anymore," the sannin continued knowing exactly what the younger blond was thinking. "I called bullshit, but she insisted that it was true. The second reason was that I guaranteed her that if she continued to pursue the Uchiha that she'd end up hurt. She clearly didn't heed my warning, but to be fair, I'm sure she assumed that I was talking about Sasuke hurting her and not myself. Do my actions seem reasonable so far?"

"As I told Itachi beforehand, I don't truly have a problem with what you did, but I would like to know what are you doing about the rumors? We both know I was miles away from Konoha by that point."

"How much of your real self are you ready to show your guest?" the sannin asked as innocently as possibly.

"That's irrelevant. Answer the question," the ramen lover bit out.

Tsunade held up her hands to show that she wasn't going to push the issue further, but the Uzumaki glared daggers at the woman. Itachi, for his part, wasn't sure why the hokage's question had garnered such a heated response from the blond teen, but the sharingan user simply remained a quiet observer of the conversation as he added the outburst to the list of things he wanted to understand about the frog summoner.

"To answer your question, I told both the ninja and civilian councils about my sparring with Sakura and I informed them that you had already left the village. They asked for proof and I gave them all the evidence they could handle. Despite that, know that there are still those who seek to believe the worst of you. There is nothing I can do about that, but I did what was in my power."

The Uzumaki stood then. He wasn't completely satisfied with the woman's answer, but what was done was done. It was that simple. What bothered him now was why the woman had asked him how much of his real self was he willing to show Itachi. The former Akatsuki member didn't need to know anything but what would be helpful to any mission they went on. His personal life was not on that list, despite what his house guest had already witnessed. So what was the slug summoner playing at?

"What are you up to?" the jinchuuriki whispered.

"I'll tell you when the stars align in the correct fashion," the Senju murmured back.

Knowing that pushing for more information was a fruitless endeavor, the hokage hopeful dismissed himself with the intrigued Uchiha in tow.

0-0-0-0-0

Naruto and Itachi made their way to the Namikaze estate and went to their respective rooms as soon as the house was locked up. The raven summoner sat on his temporary bed and thought over all that he had witnessed today.

'I was always under the impression that you were too pure to wear a mask (2) anything like Kakashi's, Naruto-kun, but now I see how wrong I was to assume such a thing.'

Itachi smirked as he continued to try and make sense of the complex puzzle his host truly seemed to be.

'Yes, Naruto-kun, I have so much to learn when comes to who you truly are.'

# Explanation

(1) I'm a little obsessed with the idea of Naruto painting Konoha red with someone's blood.

(2) The mask was in the last one and it's here again.