Chapter 7
A smile found its way across Naruto's face. Only one thought came into his mind when he saw the black crow standing on top of one of his flowers.
Itachi
So finally, Itachi had come to Konoha. It had only been a week and a half since he returned to Konoha. Nothing serious has been happening as of yet. He had been staying inside the walls of the village. There were no missions for him to do. Tsunade seemed reluctant to allow him to do any higher ranked mission. She was only willing to give him C-rank and lower. But with the boredom that had taken refuge within him, he was surely going to have to take the missions.
Going outside the village would be pleasant.
He walked over to the crow and stretched out his hand. The crow flew onto his stretched hand. He locked eyes with it. He knew where Itachi was waiting for him. He was probably not taking any chance by coming into his house. He would not have minded though if Itachi had come. He would have set up privacy seals just to make sure that no one eavesdropped while they talked.
He was also positive that Itachi knew the layout of the village to be able to come in and out without anyone noticing. But with how things were, he could understand Itachi's reasoning in staying out of the village.
He had given Itachi the Hiraishin Kunai, he was wondering why the Uchiha had not used it. Oh...how forgetting of him. Itachi had said he would only use it on emergencies. So anything that was not a life and death matter, he would not be using the Kunai.
Sighing, Naruto burst into a flock of crows.
Itachi had chosen a good place for them to meet. It was just outside of Konoha, but nowhere near where ANBU kept constant watch over the village. ANBU always patrolled near the village walls, especially at night. Good thing it was still day.
''I was wondering when you would come,'' Naruto said walking over to the stoic Uchiha who was seated on a tree branch.
''You have grown bored already?'' Itachi asked. To him it sounded like, 'what took you so long?'. He assumed that Naruto had already grown bored with being around Konoha.
''Yes,'' Naruto said with a nod. He stopped walking and sat down leaning against the tree Itachi was sitting on. ''There is nothing interesting to do inside the village. The only thing that seems to keep entertained are a few sparring sessions with Guy and Lee,'' he explained his eyes staring down the ground.
Odd, they never did the greetings like every normal people did. They just moved on with the flow. Well they were not normal people. Their conversations weren't like what other people had. There was no need for greetings. If Itachi was not well, he could have already seen it. And if he was not well, Itachi would have seen it without him saying anything. That was how it was.
''You are training with Guy?'' Itachi asked with a raised brow.
''Yes, despite his ridiculous training methods, he is a taijutsu master-something I am not. I can learn something from him.''
''You never do stop training,'' Itachi said shaking his head slightly. Naruto always wanted to become strong. He was always training. He always wanted to find new ways to become strong. The blond always spent his time trying to invent new things that even he could not understand and creating jutsu's that he could not even hope to learn.
''There can never be too much of training. Each day we always learn something new, we always improve on ourselves,'' Naruto responded not even looking up to Itachi as he did. ''...because we are alive.''
''Yes,'' the international criminal admitted. ''But you have to know your limits. When you become too engrossed with training, becoming strong and gaining the knowledge of the world, it will change you and you will become obsessed it.''
''Speaking of Orochimaru?''
''He is a prime example. All his life, he has been obsessed with gaining everything there is and learning all jutsu's in the world. Look at where he is now,'' it was no secret that Orochimaru of the snake Sannin was obsessed with gaining all the knowledge of the world. His obsession has led him to do so many experiments on himself and others.
''Correct,'' Naruto said. ''But that is because Orochimaru was messed up from the beginning. He has no moral values and loves too much power.''
''Aren't you messed up from birth? What about when you have gained too much power? Will you not think back of your childhood and reason that with the power you have you can change everything, make those who pained you suffer?''
''That will depend,'' Naruto said not denying anything Itachi had said. ''on my mindset. With the correct mindset and someone to always put me in correct path, someone to remind me of my purpose...something like that can never happen.''
''Understand this, Naruto,'' Itachi said. ''You will not always have someone to guide you and support you. There will be times where you have to find your way on your own; times where you have to stand on your own without anyone helping you out.''
''I know that,'' the blond haired Namikaze said casting his eyes over the green trees. The Fire country was lively. If he could enter Sage mode, he could feel it perfectly and be one with it.
''What are you planning now?'' Itachi asked getting to business.
This was why he liked Itachi. They talked serious matters. ''Nothing as of yet,'' Naruto answered. ''My plans will depend on the shape and mindset of the Elemental Nations over the next month.''
''You think things will change from what they are now?''
''Yes, I believe so.''
Itachi merely nodded. ''In the mean time, I have something for you.''
Naruto waited for what Itachi had for him.
''I am just coming from Amegakure. I spoke to Konan,'' Itachi said. ''I told her you would visit her and I believe you will. She will be a good friend on your path and someone who will always support you, should you convince her to join you.''
So like Itachi to look out for him. ''When did you say I would visit?''
''I did not say. I just made sure that she was expecting your visit.''
''I will make time,'' Naruto said and paused for a moment. ''Has she finished rebuilding Ame?''
Itachi shook his head, ''no, but it will be soon. She had some difficulties because during Pein's reign, the village was not allied with any other. Therefore, she had no help from other villages.''
''It must have been hard for her doing all that alone.''
''She was doing it alone at first. But after I told spoke with her some time ago, she got help from those she leads.''
''Let me guess, you told her that speech about one not being able to achieve anything on your own.''
''Yes...do you not agree?'' Itachi asked sensing something from Naruto's words.
''No, it just amuses me how you get passionate when you speak about it. But I guess it is because it is one of your biggest mistake that led you to realize that.''
''You will also make mistakes and learn something from them.''
''Perhaps...''
''Are you afraid?'' Itachi asked suddenly out of nowhere.
''Of what?''
''Failure. All your predecessors have so far failed. The path you have chosen to take is not an easy one. None have succeeded. Those who failed were even greater than you, as you are now.''
''Once a man comforts to fear, he cannot move on, he cannot see a way forward. Fear can cripple even the greatest of the great. It can be the difference between life and death, success and failure,'' Naruto paused for a moment. ''When fear of failure consumes you, you start to question yourself; what if I fall? Will everyone laugh at me? Will I even succeed? Nobody as yet has passed, what is special about me? Will I lose everything if I fail?''
''But you know what, Nii-san?'' Naruto looked up to the heavens. ''I am not afraid. If I perish, I perished trying. If I fail once, I will get up again and try to succeed until there is no life in me.''
The words were said with so much conviction, that Itachi smiled for a moment and adopted a proud look on his face. Not that Naruto could see it. He said nothing further to what the blond had said. There was no need to. He had said it all.
''Someone is coming,'' Naruto said getting on his feet.
Itachi nodded, ''I sense him too,'' the chakra felt familiar, so much familiar.
''I will teleport to the hideout in a few days to tell you of when I will see Konan so we could go together,'' Naruto said looking at Itachi. By the look on the Uchiha, he knew who it was that was coming. Perhaps the person had an Itachi radar with him. He did not comment though, it was not important.
Itachi nodded and gave a last glance to where he was sensing the familiar chakra. Without another word, he disappeared in a flock of crows. Naruto did not bother to look at the direction Itachi had glanced at...
He did not care and it was not of importance to him. He simply just disappeared in a yellow flash. He did not leave his scent or chakra signature...not even a trace of it.
Naruto's house
Though he never showed it, he was quite excited to visit Amegakure. Itachi had informed him a little about Konan, he wanted to know more about her. He was curious. She was the only female member of the Akatsuki, had been living with a guy who had a god complex. He had been told she rarely spoke during the Akatsuki meetings which meant she had to be one serious woman. She was also an orphan who lived through the Second and Third Shinobi World War.
All that made up for something that spelled interesting to him.
A small smile flicked through his face. Yap, the meeting was bound to be interesting for sure. He just had to make time to go there. If he could get Tsunade to give him a solo mission outside the village, he could go to Amegakure after completing the mission.
His cause was still being delayed by the fact that he had yet to make a name for himself. He was not going to use his Namikaze name to gain fame. He was his own man; he would make his own fame by doing great things.
Speaking of his name, the night he had met with his friends, he never told them that the Yondaime was his father. It was quite amusing when he saw Sakura's expression after she had learned of his heritage from Tsunade. She had called his friends to inform them because he had not. He did not think it was much of a big deal. Perhaps when he had been younger, he would have thought so. But now, he thought differently.
He understood that his father's achievements were his. He may be a son to him, but his achievements were reached through his own efforts. He would also achieve many things through his efforts. Boasting that he was the son of Konoha's greatest hero would do him no good. But living to become greater than the greatest hero in Konoha would.
There was also the fact that he did not want to live under his father's shadow, like Konohamaru did living under the shadow of his grandfather.
Not all his friends had been shocked to hear the revelation though. Well it was obvious with his looks and it was just a matter of time before the villagers realized it too. It would not matter to him though.
Naruto walked slowly to his study. He closed the door behind him and went behind his desk. He picked up a blank scroll and began scribing his book.
Later that afternoon
''That was another good training, Naruto-kun!'' Guy exclaimed happily looking at blond who was on seated beside Lee looking heavily tired. ''Your speed never ceases to amaze me. It's hard to believe you started training to increase your speed three-years ago. If you had started the same time as Lee, you would probably have been just fast as me without my weights,'' truly he was impressed. Not even his eternal rival could match him in speed and force him to release his weights...well not all of them. Still, Naruto was in the same league in speed with Lee when the Latter was not wearing his weights.
Naruto shook his head smiling weakly, ''with your speed, I might have to start wearing weights again just to catch up on you. You are way faster than me and for me to be able to contend with your speed I have to use chakra to enhance my own speed,'' he said looking at the green beast of Konoha. In all truth the guy was a freak when it came to speed. He had thought Itachi was fast. But no, Guy was a lot faster. Well he was a taijutsu master; that is to be expected from someone like him.
He still had not yet tested his speed while in Sage mode with the green beast, but he would not try that anytime soon. As far as everyone in Konoha was concerned, he did not know Senjutsu, not even Jiraiya knew. The toads had not told him, yet.
''You should be proud of what you have achieved,'' Guy said, this time his voice was down. ''It takes years and hard work to make it to the top. You are still young. I have no doubt that in the next years, you and Lee will be the fastest Shinobi in Konoha,'' he did not know that Naruto could go faster with the Hiraishin. The blond had kept it to himself that he could use the Flying Thunder God Technique. Only Tsunade, Jiraiya and possibly Kakashi knew. He liked it that way. He wanted to keep it as one of his ace cards.
Lee smiled brightly looking at his sensei, ''you mean that Guy-sensei?'' he asked feeling quite happy that his beloved sensei had said he could become the fasted in Konoha in a few years.
''Yes my student,'' Guy answered smiling at his green student. ''I have no doubt that with your guts and determination you will surpass me in speed and taijutsu.''
''Yosh! I shall-'' before Lee could finish his sentence, Naruto cut him off.
''Lee,'' Naruto said calmly. ''You weren't just about to say that you were going to train harder than you have been, were you?''
Lee scratched his head nervously making Naruto shake his head. ''How many times have we gone through this Lee? I told you, you cannot add more weight to your current training regime, or your body won't be able to handle it.''
He had placed a gravity seal on Lee to increase his speed. Since Lee could not utilize the little chakra he had, he had designed the seal especially for Lee. But like all gravity seals, it carried some risks. Lee had to train at a given program that Naruto had designed. This would ensure that his body did not take in more than he could handle. Lee also wore his weights while he had the gravity seal on him. That put a lot of strain on his body, more specifically his muscles. Should he over do it, his muscles would tear at every part of his body, little by little. And Lee would only notice it when it was too later. If something like that was to happen, Lee would never become a shinobi again, considering what Gaara had done to him during the Chunin exams.
The gravity seal Naruto had created was special in some sense because it did not restrict parts of Lee's body, it restricted his entire body. If a Hyuuga could look at Lee with their Byakugan, he/she could see a seal around Lee's entire body. The seal also restricted Lee's movements and ''pulled'' him down each time he got used to the restriction. That meant that the more Lee trained, the more the seal restricted his body. Like everything else, a body had its own limits. With each increase in restriction, his body would also be reaching its limits.
Lee might not feel it on his body, that he had reached his limit before something goes wrong. Even the gravity seal does not know when the body will reach its limit. That is why it will continue to add more weight and restricting Lee.
Because of this, he had designed the seal to function for a month before giving out. Once that is accomplished, Lee could train as hard as he could because he would no longer have the gravity seal on him. However, the results would be satisfactory.
''I get carried away sometimes,'' Lee said.
''You will train as hard as you want after three more weeks. I just need you to follow that program I gave you and everything will be all right. After I take off the seal, you will see the difference,'' Naruto explained to Lee.
Lee nodded but he was happy. He could not wait for the three weeks to be complete so he could see how fast he had become.
''Listen to Naruto-kun, Lee,'' Guy said agreeing with Naruto. He had listened carefully when Naruto explained the dangers of using the gravity seal he had designed. As much as he loved his student and wanted him to become strong, he did not want him to kill his shinobi career carelessly by doing something he was told abundantly not to do.
''We also don't want you injured before the exam,'' Guy stated smiling. In the next month, a few chunins were going to take the jounin exams within the village. Lee being only skilled in taijutsu had to improve as much as he could before he took the exams to have more chances of succeeding.
''Sorry Guy-sensei...I will be careful from now on...'' Lee said.
Guy nodded and turned to Naruto who was picking up his sword. ''How good are you with it? I have never seen you use it before,'' he asked the blond.
''I have not tested myself against some hailed as a kenjutsu master, but my skills with a sword are about jounin-level. As for using it, I rarely use it even though I walk everywhere with it.''
Guy nodded, ''so I guess you were given it as a gift,'' he deduced. The only way someone would carry a blade such as the Sword of the Thunder God without even attempting to use it whenever he/she got into a fight was if it was a gift. This meant that Naruto valued it highly and would only use it to someone he feels worthy of it.
''Yes,'' Naruto said not denying anything. ''Besides, there is no one in Konoha who can test me in Kenjutsu. Kakashi no longer uses a blade and the only person who was a Kenjutsu master in the village was killed during the chunin exams about three years ago.''
''I might help you with that,'' a lazy voice of Kakashi said appearing into the training ground.
Naruto raised a brow at the man's appearance. He had certainly not sensed the man when he appeared. Perhaps it was because he was relaxed with the two and was tired. But even when he was relaxed, he should have sensed his former sensei. Well the man was a former ANBU, he could still surprise him.
''Ah, Kakashi my eternal rival. When did you get here?'' Guy asked happily not bothered by his presence.
''A few minutes ago,'' the famed copy ninja replied with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulder.
''You can still use a sword like you used to?'' Naruto asked. He had never seen the man use a sword before, but he had been told that before Kakashi got his Sharingan he used to carry a sword, even when he was ANBU and was very good with it.
''Yes, but I doubt I would be of much challenge to you,'' Kakashi replied looking at Naruto. ''However, I do know someone who can help you.''
''Who?''
Kakashi merely smiled at the blond, ''You will see her,'' he said.
''So it's a she...'' Naruto concluded. He looked at Guy and Lee, ''I will see you tomorrow,'' he said and disappeared into nothingness.
Guy looked at Kakashi curiously. The seemed to be some emotions that ran through his face when Naruto disappeared without even giving sparing him a glance. He guessed the reason the jounin had come to the training ground was to speak with Naruto.
Shaking his head, he walked over to the jounin and patted him on his shoulder. Kakashi merely smiled weakly.
''Lee, let's go do your afternoon laps,'' the green beast said to his student.
''Hai Guy-sensei.''
Kakashi watched them go about their business with a slight sad look on his face. If he had not messed things up when he had the chance, he would have been also doing laps or something of that line with Naruto. He would have been like an older brother to the blond, but he failed to do anything.
He was a failure.
Without another word, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves to the memorial stones.
Memorial stones
Kakashi was surprised to see Naruto at the memorial stones. He had only seen him once at this place, even so then, he did not look like someone who was having regrets, or mourning. He was just there looking at the stones with a blank stare. He could never figure what the blond had in his mind.
''I knew that if I disappeared like that, you would come here,'' Naruto said suddenly not even looking at Kakashi.
The famed jounin silently walked towards Naruto and stood beside him, but said nothing. What could he say?
''It is what you do, right? Each time you try to speak with me, I simply shut the door on your face never giving you any chance to say what you wish to say,'' the blond paused for a moment and looked at the heavens. 'It's about to rain,' he thought. During his training with Guy, the clouds had begun to gather around.
''Each time I did that, you came here to confess, remind yourself of how much of a failure you are. Each time that happened, I simply watched with disinterest. I never thought of helping you while you drown in your sorrows. Do you know why?'' he paused again taking his off the heavens. ''I did not pity you enough to bring myself to help you. To be quite frank seeing you repeatedly confess you were sorry was not the least amusing and not a sight I want to keep seeing. And that is why we are here today.''
Kakashi remained quiet, it appeared that Naruto was not done speaking. He still wanted to speak, he would say something when given the chance.
''Do you know what I thought each time I watched your ''therapy sessions?'' pathetic. I asked myself, was this the man trained by my father? Was this the man many consider as the strongest in the village? Was this the man my father saw as someone who could succeed him as Hokage? The answer was no,'' Naruto continued speaking before pausing. ''What I was seeing was a pathetic man with serious mental issues. I was seeing a man who was lost in his own failures. So Kakashi, say what you wish to say.''
Kakashi did not respond immediately. Naruto was not being gentle with him, he was quite harsh and frank. He had not expected their conversation to begin the way it had. Regardless, this was his chance.
''Naruto,'' he said after a few minutes of silence. The called blond was waiting patiently for the jounin to speak. ''Sensei was more than just a teacher to me. He treated me like family. And I saw him as someone to look up to. He was always there for me, my teammates. When your mother became pregnant with you, sensei was overjoyed. I too was happy, by that time I had already lost all my teammates and the only friend I had was Guy. I was happy that I would have someone to call a little brother.
''But sensei died. I had already lost my mother, father, but my father's death was the one to have affected me the most. My teammates were dead already. And when your father died, it was too much for me. Everyone I cared for had died and I could not do anything to save them. I thought I would make up for my failures by looking after you since sensei was gone, but the Sandaime forbid it. He told me to stay away from you.
''For years, I had to watch you tormented by the hatred from the villagers. The fact that I could do nothing reminded me of how much of a failure I was. When you entered the Academy, I knew that one day you would graduate. It was my chance to make up for my failures. I quit ANBU and returned to serving Konoha as jounin. When I became your sensei, I was happy...but again I failed to teach you anything.''
''Sensei taught me his signature jutsu, I as your former sensei even failed to do that. I even told Jiraiya-sama that it was not a good idea to teach you the Rasengan after I had seen you use it,'' he chuckled dryly. ''But that was after I had taught Sasuke my own signature jutsu. I saw it wrong for you to be taught something that would help you survive as at the time the Akatsuki were still hunting you. With Sasuke I knew that he would use the jutsu to kill...well that is what I created the jutsu for anyway.''
Naruto listened to Kakashi's words silently making no interruptions while the jounin spoke.
''Between you and Sasuke, you were the one who deserved to be taught the jutsu. Nevertheless, I failed to see that too.''
So he was not blaming the council for ordering him to teach Sasuke something useful, that was good. Naruto thought.
''When I saw you return from your training, I was happy to see that you had grown, not just physically but mentally as well. You reminded me much of sensei. Even so, I asked myself, did you still need me as your sensei? Would you even accept me as your sensei? Was I even worthy to be your sensei?'' the jounin paused for a moment. ''The answer I got was no to everything question. Whoever trained you, trained you well. I might not yet have seen what you can do, but I do know that you are strong. You seemed confident when taking on Jiraiya. Someone like you who is not arrogant can only be confident because you know you could handle Jiraiya. All I could say when I looked at you, was that you had been trained well despite not seeing the extent of your abilities. I have watched you spar with Guy and Lee. From that I knew that you have been trained better that I could have,'' again Kakashi paused before continuing. ''But I think I like it that way. I would not have trained you better.''
''Do you think I hate you Kakashi? Do you think I resent you because I simply watched you drawn in your own pity?'' he shook his head as he spoke. ''No, I do not hate you. However, I am human. I have feelings. Despite how we view the world, our mentality, or the fact that we are trained killers, we are still humans. We will feel certain things. I who was known as the kindest person was and is capable of feeling hatred. Why? Because I live, I am human. The difference is what I do when I feel hatred and anger. Do I let that control me? Do I allow that to cloud my judgment?'' he looked up at the heavens again. 'Any moment now,' he thought and waited. Just then, a few drops' came down and danced on him. 'And so it begins,' he did not care if it was raining on him.
''The other difference is that I am here talking to you. I am listening to what you have to say. You have also been patient even when I seemed no to care about what you wanted to say to me. If I had simply allowed my emotions towards you to rule everything, I would not have bothered to be here. But because I do not allow my emotions to rule over my rational thinking, I am here.''
Seeing that Naruto was done, Kakashi spoke, ''you might not hate me as you say, but how do I forgive myself for being a failure? How do I try to change the disappointment that I am?''
Naruto shook his head. ''I am not here to help you solve problems you have been having before I could even speak. Nevertheless, what I can tell you is that, if you continue walking on that path, your life will be on an impasse. There will be no moving forward. You will never be happy, you will remain miserable until you die. Acceptance is the only way forward,'' he paused for a moment holding out his hands for the rain to dance on his palms. ''You are like a man holding out his hands allowing acid to fall onto his hands. Little by little, the acid will consume his hands. Little by little your inability to forgive yourself will eat you away until,'' he flicked his hand allowing the water to fall off his hand, ''you allow yourself to be killed in battle because you see no way forward.''
Kakashi quietly listened to Naruto. Even after the blond had stopped talking, he remained quiet for a moment. He did not mind that rain was falling on him. There were more important matters than that. ''Before I came to here, I had thought about this conversation. You were supposed to have been like my adoptive brother. When that failed, you were to be my student. Even that failed. What I can only ask is to be your friend, nothing else.''
''That sounds acceptable,'' Naruto replied not giving it a second thought. He never waited to see Kakashi's reaction to his words, he simply disappeared in a yellow flash.
Kakashi smiled slightly and looked at the names he usually came to stare at, ''Rin, Obito, sensei, you must have always wanted to punch me each time you saw me come here to tell you of my failures,'' his smile turned to that of a said one. ''I am sorry,'' he said and disappeared from the face of the memorial stone.
Naruto's house
Dealing with Kakashi was done and dusted. Now he could look forward to other things. There was much on his plate that he had to deal with. But the situation with Kakashi needed to be dealt with before anything else. He never liked leaving things being uncertain. He had already dealt with his issues with Tsunade and Jiraiya.
His former ''sensei'' was the only one left to deal with. He was quite disappointed in Kakashi, though. He had first thought that the man was strong mentally, but he had been wrong. Kakashi had a lot of problems, but he hid them too well.
The man had gone through some hardships during his life. Most of it all was emotional pain. He lost his mother when he was little and his father committed seppuku. His father's death put a lot of strain on him and changed much about his views and attitude. He had read it all on some of his father's journals.
His parents were not the only thing Kakashi lost. He had also lost his friend Uchiha Obito, the person who gave him his Sharingan during the Third Shinobi World War. Obito had made Kakashi promise that he would protect Rin, their teammate. Kakashi failed to do that.
Then came his beloved sensei.
Still, that did not excuse him. Everybody had their problems, and some during their lifetimes, they learn to solve them. Kakashi has been living for how long? Yet, he is still unable to move on with his life. He constantly reminds himself of how much of a failure he is than trying to move on with his life.
It was good that he handled it though.
Naruto downed a cup of tap water before walking away from the kitchen. He needed to take a shower. Training with Guy and Lee brought much sweat to his body. Without a bath, he would surely stink. It was odd that Guy and Lee never seemed to stink that much despite their ridiculous training methods.
''You know, I was beginning to think you were enjoying seeing him suffer,'' a voice of Jiraiya spoke coming from behind Naruto.
''You thought I was a sadist?'' Naruto questioned without even looking back at the Sannin; he had already sensed him.
''No...I was just wondering why you simply watched him suffer from afar.''
''What would you have me do, Jiraiya? Try to comfort him? Tell him he was not a failure?''
''You could have done something sooner. You have that power in you to get people to listen to you,'' Jiraiya replied calmly. ''I also messed up big time, but you did not give me a hard time about it.''
''I have not forgotten about that, godfather,'' Naruto reminded Jiraiya that he had yet to forget about his own mistakes. He stopped walking and leaned against a wall into the passage. Now he was facing Jiraiya. ''Would you have been satisfied if I had tied you up and beat you up to an inch of your live? Would you have been happy if I had removed the ''thing'' you hold so dearly just to show you how angry I was and still am with you?''
Jiraiya cursed his big mouth. He should have not brought the subject up again. They had already spoken about this, and he had to bring it up. ''No,'' he admitted quietly. ''But I would have understood because I deserved it.''
''Indeed you did and still do...'' Naruto said. ''Perhaps I should do just that; give you what you deserve.''
Jiraiya was quick to reply, ''no, no, there is no need for that. We have already discussed things like adults, there is no need for violence.''
''There is no need to worry about that,'' Jiraiya did not believe that for a second. ''While I was watching Kakashi, I was studying him trying to find a way to handle him. I was also interested to see if he would give up if I kept pushing him away. My problems with Kakashi are solved and to correct you, I never even gave the guy a hard time. We talked and I gave him an advice.
''Unlike you, Kakashi was just a student of my father. You on the other hand, were my father's sensei and my godfather. Do you think a mere sorry and acknowledgement of your wrongs will make up for what you did?''
Jiraiya said nothing. What could he say?
''You said I did not make things hard for you. That is not it. The thing is, I just have yet to make things hard for you. I told you that I was angry with you but did not hate you. Do you think all the anger I felt when I found out that you abandoned me to the vultures of this village just disappeared? Do you think that I will easily forget that you let me think that my parents had abandoned me while you knew that was not it?
Anger like that does not simply disappear after a one-night sleep Jiraiya. Perhaps in the movies it might, but this is reality. I told you I would punish you and I still intend on doing that,'' Naruto stated making Jiraiya pale at the thought of being punished. ''Now state what you wish and excuse yourself, I want to take a shower.''
Jiraiya nodded quietly, ''I wanted say that what you did for Kakashi was good, even though you took your time,'' he said. ''Hime has told me that you wanted to go on a mission.''
''That is true,'' Naruto confirmed.
''If you like, we could go together when I visit my contacts in Kiri and Kumo,'' the Sannin offered. This would give him an opportunity to get closer to Naruto.
Naruto caught on to that. However, there were far more serious matters than that. This could give him a chance to see other villages before making his move.
''When do we leave?''
Jiraiya grinned the second Naruto asked. ''I will just have to check things with hime. I will talk to you tonight.''
''Okay,'' Naruto said turning to face the passage. ''You know you way out,'' he said disappearing from Jiraiya's view.
Jiraiya sighed walked out of the house. He went to the garden first. It was quite lovely when Minato was still alive. He had some good memories in the house. He would have had a lot of them too with Naruto had he not messed up things.
Not all was lost though. There was still time to make up for his wrongs. He doubted he could ever do enough, but the little he could do, he would do.
Later that day
Naruto was walking alone towards his house from the Ramen bar. It was so much better to take a walk sometimes than to simply teleport. He was thankful that Tsunade had decided against telling everyone about his heritage, not that he was hiding it anyway. With things the way they were, he could walk happily and peacefully around the village.
A few number of villagers still ignored him, while some just went about their lives. He had no complains though. He could not wish for any of it to be any different.
He sighed looking at his right at the corner of his eyes. 'Hinata,' he thought catching the weird Hyuuga girl tailing him. She never seemed to be able to hide whenever she was spying on him.
It had been going for a few days now. He thought eventually, she would decided to leave the shadows and step out into the light. But he thought wrong. It did not seem like she would be doing that anytime soon.
He had thought that it was annoying at first, given that she was always tailing him whenever she got the chance. Sometimes she would be at it for hours. It was annoying having a pair of white eyes staring at him. He could never do anything private because her eyes were always staring at him. Anyone would find it disturbing knowing that you always had a pair of eyes staring and watching carefully whatever you did.
Now it was becoming creepy.
He did not think that any girl in love did what Hinata was doing. If all girls did it, then he would surely die as he was. Perhaps Hinata was obsessed with him. An obsession sounded accurate. You had to be obsessed to spend your time spying on someone without an instruction for hours. She did it simply because she wanted to.
He wondered though; did she not have her own life to live?
He had talked with Neji about it, but the Hyuuga prodigy did not seem bothered about it or even care for it. He did admit it that he would find it disturbing if she was spending much of her time spying on him. Nevertheless, he was not willing to help him out. He simply told him to deal it himself. He could but he often did not censor his words to accommodate someone as fragile as Hinata. He would not want to be responsible for her mental breakdown.
Glancing at her direction once more, he was about to call her when he sensed something, someone rather. A dark figured appeared before him.
Uchiha Sasuke
The only reaction Naruto gave, physically, to the presence was a raised brow. He simply looked at the matured form of Sasuke's Sharingan. They were devoid of any emotion, and looked to be studying and analyzing him like he was some kind of puzzle.
Narrowing his eyes at a building on his left, Naruto saw Kakashi. The jounin seemed ready to jump in should fireworks threaten to be ignited.
''Naruto...'' there was neither anger nor hatred in his voice. There was nothing. His voice was devoid of any emotion just as his eyes were.
''Yes...'' Naruto said calmly. He looked at the Uchiha calmly. He had told himself that Sasuke was "dead" to him, countless times. And he believed it. However, he was staring at those same eyes that stared at him when they tried to kill him. This person betrayed him. He could not think otherwise. Was it just easy to say that he did not exist when he was not in presence?
He realized something though; he hated Uchiha Sasuke. There was no difference in Sasuke that tried to kill him and the Sasuke that was standing in front of him.
''I just wanted to confirm something,'' Sasuke said before disappearing.
Naruto sighed. Yes, Sasuke was Sasuke and he did not like him, at all. He waited for Kakashi to appear.
''I don't know why I was even worried,'' Kakashi said. Naruto looked at him. He looked a lot better than he was at afternoon. ''Both of you have changed so much. I know that. I have gone on a few missions with Sasuke, I should have known better.''
Naruto did not comment.
''Let's go to the jounin lounge, you have never been there. Last time I asked you said you had other plans.''
''Sure,'' Naruto said. He had nothing serious to do anyway. He could as well see what the jounin usually conversed.
This is officially the shortest chapter so far. I will not just throw everything when Naruto begins his path in searching for peace. Things will start of slowly. I hope ya all can handle that.
What Naruto actually talked with Neji will be kept between them for now.
Derek: Perhaps somewhere in the future, as for how strong he is…I will keep that to myself for now.
Thor94: The relationship between Kyuubi and Naruto will be revealed soon.
Devin: No…
Steellord: It's possible.
If I did not answer your question, that probably means I don't have an answer to it.