Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
chapter length: 3547 words
AN length: less then 1k.
XX
The dinner table was much more packed than it had been the first night. Kakashi had made his way down stairs this time, and with the added team 10 it almost felt like a large family gathering. Chouji had been forced to refrain from eating too much, and moving onto his personal snacks at the dinner table. Despite it being a mission, they were guests in a town that was in poverty.
Naruto couldn't get the story Warren had told him in his head. He thought Konoha was a rough life? The only way to survive out there seemed to be the most dangerous. He idly wondered if things had changed since his defection from the Mist.
It was also nice that he had gotten to meet the man. It gave him another view on missing nin. He was taught during his ninja training that missing ninja were bad guys and that they were to be captured and brought back to their respective nations for rewards. However he had met missing ninja, and so far one of them raised a young woman that he quickly grew to be fond of. The most recent one he met, after barely talking to him and just hearing his story. He couldn't help but respect and want to get to know the man more.
Naruto sighed at the dinner table, he had too much on him mind and wasn't particularl hungry. He wasn't the only one who wasn't eating however, neither was Kakashi. However he suspected that was because he didn't want everyone to see his face.
The dinner was ruined when Tsunami's son entered the room however. The boy came in and after a rather pathetic introduction the boy turned to Tsunami and bluntly said,
"Mom, they are going to die. Gatou will just kill them as he would anyone else." pointing a finger at no one particular, just the group of ninja in general.
Tsunami of course gasped when her son had said this, "Inari!" she shouted in surprise, she had assumed she had taught her son better.
Naruto frowned at the situation, the old him would of burst out and had gotten angry. However he now, despite feeling a bit bad about his thought process, was trying to find the cruelest and harshest statement he could possibly say to the boy all that while staying relevant. Unfortunately he couldn't think of one, so he did the next best thing he could think of.
"Your a foolish little child..." Naruto began which caused everyone's head to turn to him. Several 'Shut up Naruto.' looks were shot his way which he ignored. Inari had taken to glaring at Naruto at being called out, but Naruto pressed on, "You shouldn't speak of things that don't concern you. We don't need the blatant negativity from you because honestly? It does nothing to further our cause, and we brush it off our shoulder. Perhaps when you grow up you can actually give some decent input. However that time is not now."
Inari grit his teeth, and his hat cast a shadow over his eyes when he held his head down, "Like you would know anything about the people in wave? What can you honestly suggest that we should do?"
Naruto stabbed his chopstick into the remainder of his food and stood up. Sakura who was sitting next to him was tugging rather hard on his arm trying to get him to sit down and not start a commotion. She must have forgot that this was Naruto.
"Again, Honestly? I think that the people of wave should just band together and drive Gatou out, you all outnumber him 15 to one when it comes to forces. You could probably beat him with a village militia armed with sticks. However you, my advice for you is much more simple." he grit his teeth as he continued to try and think of the cruelest things that he knew would leave a lasting impression on the boy. "I think you should run away and cry. Hell I don't care if you hate me, despise me, for all I care you can live your life in the most unsightly way possible. To me until you grow up and accept that you don't have to sit on your ass and try and talk big to the people that are being paid to pick up your trash, you will always be a foolish little child in my eyes."
Naruto stood up and began walking away up the stairs.
Inari gained a look of malice, something that shouldn't of even been able to be on the face of a child. "What would you know! Hey! I'm talking to you!" he shouted as he watched the retreating form of Naruto, "Real men don't run away!"
Naruto paused for a moment at the top of the stairs to mull over the statement, before he continued walking to the end of the hall. Everyone was rather surprised they hadn't heard an outbur-
"Your right! I am just being the bigger man and walking away from a battle I have already won. No use kicking a dead horse!" The sound of a sliding door slamming went throughout the house.
Everyone had appeared to of lost their appetite. They were having a nice dinner until that had happened.
Sakura was the first to stand up, "I am going to go check on Naruto." she said quickly, moving to put her dishes away in the sink before rushing up the stairs. She quickly grabbed a small notepad on a desk at the end of the hall and wrote 'Don't Disturb.' on the paper before rushing to Naruto's shared room with Sasuke. She slipped the paper on the door and made shirt it would stay up with the sliding, and calmly walked in.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The table had cleared, everyone had moved to put their dishes away, except for Sasuke. He had taken to staring at his reflection in the soup on his plate. He was taking deep breaths as he thought over Naruto's speech slash outburst he had at the dinner table. Words kept flooding into his head as he continued analyzing it.
"Foolish little...
hate me
despise me
live in a unsightful way
run..."
Many words continued to flood into his head until all he could see was the vision of the saddest moment in his life.
"Foolish little brother, if you want to kill me, despise me, hate me. Run, run.. cling to live and survive in an unsightly way. Then someday, when you have these same eyes, come to me"
He slammed his hand on the table once the memory had finished, thoroughly scaring the people in the nearby vicinity who had been caught unaware. He felt particularly bad when Tsunami had dropped a dish on the floor, shattering it into several pieces. Sasuke pursed his lips, and walked outside to the dock. He needed time to think.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Naruto?" Sakura asked slowly as she walked into the room.
Naruto had a pillow over his face and quickly said in annoyance, "If you are here to ask me about Inari get out."
Sakura frowned, "No Naruto that isn't it I came here to talk to you."
Naruto once again mumbled through the pillow, "If you aren't here to give me a strip tease get out."
That earned him a punch in the leg by Sakura, which quickly caused him to sit up with a hiss, "Hey that kinda hurt." he said quickly rubbing his leg.
Sakura sighed as she looked Naruto over as he laid in bed, he seemed unfazed by what he had said to Inari, but that wasn't why she was here.
"What was it you wanted to talk to me about Sakura?" He questioned as he looked her in the face in that dark room. He doubted that she could even see his eyes in this light.
There was a long drawn out pause on her part. She seemed to fiddle with her hands and feet almost like she was a nervous wreck. She quickly sat next to Naruto and turned her back to him to avoid him being able to see her eyes, this was embarrassing enough at it was.
"Do you think I'm ugly?" she quickly asked, it nearly came out in a slur.
Naruto paused and raised an eyebrow, "Your joking right? That is what you wanted to ask me?"
Sakura's shoulders sank and she looked down at her feet. Naruto groaned and sat up, "Of course your not ugly, why would you think that?" he asked with a frown on his face. The Sakura he knew was always confident ever since she became friends with Ino when they were kids.
Sakura muttered something intangible which caused Naruto to reply intelligently, "Huh?"
Sakura took a deep breath as she felt Naruto wrap an arm around her shoulder, "You did Naruto." she frowned once she said that and avoided his gaze.
Naruto tilted his head, 'What the hell did I do?'
Sakura didn't even have to look at him to pick up the unspoken question. "Its just that you no longer ask me out, you don't pay much attention to me anymore, hell you saw me half naked yesterday and you didn't blush or anything? So be honest Naruto, am I ugly?"
Naruto closed his eyes and swung his legs off the side of the bed and sat next to Sakura in the dark, "I can't believe we are seriously talking about this Sakura. Your not ugly, I just got tired of chasing after you and you would always hit me."
Sakura visibly flinched at that, Naruto felt the shake on his arm. "It didn't have to do anything about your looks Sakura. It had everything to do with how you treated me. No offense but you were cute but always were a total bitch to me. I'm not the type of person that would just go for people at face value." 'That and I slept with Ino...' he thought quietly to himself while keeping a small smile on his face.
Sakura pursed her lips as Naruto continued, "As for you being naked Sakura, yes you look good, but right then wasn't the time to be staring at your boobs. We are a team Sakura, it was even said in class that the team you grow up on will likely be the closest people to you that you will ever have in life. I can't be thinking about you like that when all of our lives could of been in danger."
Sakura held her head down and sighed, "Your right..."
Naruto cut in trying to lighten the mood, "Sakura don't worry alright? You are still very pretty, even if you tend to fall on the ugly side a bit." he finished with his tongue sticking out trying to lighten the mood. Sakura went to hit him, but thought over the past five minutes they had been talking. She turned her first to an open palm, and gently pushed Naruto off the bed with a small smile on her face.
Naruto stretched his arms, "Your not ugly Sakura, I likely would still be going after you if you didn't treat me the way you usually do. Maybe sometime down the road things will change, but for now I like that we are actually friends for once."
Sakura grinned, "Oh who said we were friends?" it was her turn to tease, and she took full advantage of it.
Naruto pulled her off his bed quickly and laid down with a laugh, "Alright well, if that is the thing you wanted to ask me, I gave you my answer... so go away!" he tossed a pillow at her, and could only grin when it hit her directly in the face.
Sakura rolled her eyes at Naruto's random moments where he will act like a kid, despite how serious he had been over the past few days. "Actually, there is one more thing." She waited until she knew he had his attention before saying, "When were you going to tell me you were sleeping with Ino!" she accused, pointing a finger for dramatic effect.
Naruto gave a comical look that was a rather good impersonation of a fish. It took him a couple moments but he quickly said quietly, "I felt that it should be a personal matter between the two of us..."
Sakura's eyes promptly widened, "Wait what? You did sleep with Ino!" she practically yelled the last part, at which Naruto threw the remaining pillow at her, this time she caught it.
Naruto glared at her for tricking him, and that she was being loud. "Tone yourself the fuck down! The only thing left for me to throw at you is a clock and a lamp." he whispered harshly. "Why the hell are you so interested anyways?"
Sakura rolled her eyes, she felt it was obvious, "Ino is my best friend! Of course I'm interested. Not to mention how she pretends to chase Sasuke-kun? Doesn't that hurt you when she does that?"
Naruto scowled at the last comment, "Sakura drop it." he told her in an icy tone.
"What? No, come on Naruto tell me about it!" she continued to pester him about it, until he snapped and quietly said.
"Sakura, as your current commanding officer, shut up, and don't talk to me about this today, actually better yet ask Ino why she was even talking to you about this." Naruto covered his face with his hands in frustration. The entire situation made him seem desperate, a guy going for a girl who was publicly going for a different guy.
"Naruto... Ino didn't sa-" She was promptly cut off by Naruto in a commanding voice saying,
"That was an order Sakura, go find Ino and talk to her about it." Sakura was about to promptly comply, Kakashi had notified everyone of Naruto's current position for the remainder of the mission.
There were some foot steps coming into the dark room, "Talk to me about what?" The moonlight dimly showed Ino's figure, who was followed by Haku. Neither looked like they were that happy being in eithers presence.
'Good.' Naruto closed his eyes in annoyance, "Ino, Sakura, get out."
Ino's eyes widened when she heard Naruto say that the moment she walked in. "What why!" she nearly yelled, this was supposed to be the first time she was going to talk to Naruto privately since they had been here.
Haku brushed past Ino with a small smirk in the dark and whispered quickly and icily in her ear, "Because he wants to be alone with me."
Ino grit her teeth and move her foot outward, which Haku would of stumbled over, If Naruto hadn't walked over and balanced her. "I just don't want to talk to either of you two right now alright? Why don't you both go find Sasuke or something?" Naruto finished with a frown before rather roughly ushering them out of the room before sliding the door closed and hooking a little locking latch on it down.
Haku could see perfectly in this darkness, one of the reasons she held back a giggle when Naruto promptly bumped into a small desk at the end of the bed. He walked over and crashed down on his bed face first, "What do you want Haku?" he finished with a sigh.
She unlike Sakura didn't bother to ask, "So what compelled you to sleep with the Yamanaka?" she stated bluntly. Naruto rolled his eyes, he just kicked two of the girls out of the room because he didn't want to talk about this.
"Why are you of all people interested in this Haku?" he said giving a long breath out. He was hoping just to relax. That was of course until he felt a weight suddenly appear right next to him, "Because I gave myself to you Naruto-sama." she leaned down and whispered in his ear, "You can ask for Anything from me..."
Naruto shivered when he heard that.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"What did you do Sakura? Why did I have to get kicked out of the room?" Ino continued to rant, pacing back and forth of the dock.
"Well when did you plan to tell me?" Sakura asked crossing her arms over her chest glaring at her best friend.
"Tell you what Sakura?" Ino said rolling her eyes, here she was again cast off at the side while that skank of a shinobi was doing god knows what to Naruto. Hell she said she was "Experienced" well, how do you get "Experienced" at something like that? She clenched her first at the thought, and fumbled with the tie holding he hair in a pony tail. She continued to repeatedly put it up and put it down claiming it was messed up.
"That you were fucking Naruto! What the hell do you think I was asking you about?" Sakura nearly yelled it, it was a miracle that the house hadn't heard it. Ino looked like a deer caught in the way of a stray kunai.
"W-what? Sakura what are you talking about? I didn't sleep with Naruto." Ino said trying to brush it off with a laugh.
"That isn't what he said. He actually got rather mad about it, especially when I asked him how it felt when you go for Sasuke right in front of him. That is why were are out here talking, and not inside talking with them." Sakura ran a hand through her hair. She was annoyed her friend kept this fromt her, then practically lied straight to her face. Then she continued to pursue Sasuke like nothing was wrong with that?
Ino grimaced, 'If... if they're talking.' she thought sourly to herself.
"How could you be doing that, to all people Naruto?" Sakura questioned her. Ino pleaded the fifth.
Sighing in frustration at her friend, "You know what? I don't know who you are going after but..." she thought back to what Naruto said earlier. 'It didn't have to do anything about your looks Sakura. It had everything to do with how you treated me. No offense but you were cute but always were a total bitch to me. I'm not the type of person that would just go for people at face value.'
"Go after Sasuke if you want to, I'm not going to go after him anymore. You can have him." Sakura then quickly walked inside, not giving Ino time to think up a response.
Ino went over to the edge of the dock and for the first time in a long time, cried. She never felt the need to cry before. She was always the most popular girl, always had a bunch of friends. Everyone liked her, and if they didn't they at least knew of her. Confident she could get any boy to like her was the main reason she pursued Sasuke all this time. She had never lost anything over it except her friendship with Sakura. However now, she felt like she lost something more important then that...
Naruto.
The ironic thing about the situation she felt was, she didn't want to stop pursuing Sasuke the other day because it was the basis of her and her best friends friendship. So she didn't and another girl was able to move in on Naruto. Now here she is, her friend telling her she was going to stop pursuing Sasuke.
Maybe if she stoped pursuing Sasuke when they were practicing tree climbing, it would be her in the room with Naruto instead of Haku.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next morning Naruto woke to the sight of a half naked Haku putting on clothes right next to his bedside. "You know that we are supposed to cuddle for about an hour, and possibly do it again later right?"
Haku gave a small smile and leaned over kissing Naruto on lips quickly, "I have to go get something, I will be back around noon alright Naruto-kun?"
Naruto looked over to the clock by the bedside reading 10:30. "Thats fine..." he said slowly in between a yawn.
Haku grabbed her hunter nin mask and said, I'll be back before you know it. She made the seal to shunshin out of the house before Naruto held up a hand, "Wait!"
Haku paused and looked at him as he continued, "Where did Sasuke sleep?"
Haku smiled lightly, 'Okay nothing serious.' "He shared a room with Sakura and Ino last night since it is the only guest room with three twin beds.
Naruto nodded with a sigh, "Alright hurry back."
Haku put on her mask, which made her appearance far more intimidating, "Why of course Naruto-sama."
Once she vanished the voice in his head called out to him, "I like her more then the blonde one, she even knew what she was doing Naruto-kun."
Naruto scowled, the fox was the last person he wanted to talk to about his sexual activities, "Jealous?" he asked her in a low tone.
"Not in the least, I could have my time with you whenever I wanted."
"So why haven't you?"
"Simple Naruto-kun, you haven't earned it yet."
Naruto grit his teeth at that thought.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Alright there is the chapter (admittedly, I haven't been able to get it to a Beta, and you know who you are. I am bad with Email bro, so sorry X_x bit impatient)
Not much action, people are getting stressed lol, but it is needed.
Sakura: I am merely building up her character, I don't plan for her and Naruto to have a relationship bigger than close friends.
Ino: You get to see her distress with the situation between herself, Naruto and Haku this chapter.(Not like you hadn't before.)
Haku and Naruto: I can already hear the annoyance with some reviewers before even posting this. I know there will be a "Why didn't you add the lemon!" I also wanted to show Haku being more forward and blunt when it comes to more intimate situations rather than Ino who would dance around the subject.
I have been contemplating this a lot, and when I got around to the point. I felt that I could write a lemon, however I don't know if I want to before timeskip. I could offer to write lemons for the story on another site, but here is my problem. Call it selfish if you want, I really want one of my stories to be one of those famous stories that breaks the 1k review mark. I feel that if I say "Alright well I will release the chapter here, and a chapter with the lemon somewhere else." people would read it somewhere else and I wouldn't get reviews here for the story. Thus not completing one of my goals for writing fanfiction.
The thing honestly holding me back is that despite you can find lemons everywhere in fanfiction, you "Technically" aren't supposed to put them in. Thus I'm hesitent about putting one in. If anyone can give me a viable way to still write the lemons, that people would still read this chapter and review then fine I will do it.(if I find that people want to read them that is.) until then no lemon, sorry to the people that wanted one.
Anyways read and review.
Also I will propose you a question, and I need a vote.
Question: Where do you think Haku is going?
Vote: I wont tell you what this is for, and I may not even use this idea. It is just an option that I may use later in the story. Or soon.
Girls:
Kurenai
Anko
Hinata
Tenten
Shizune
Ayame
Tayuya
(Honestly any girl you can think of. The character you vote for will become a bigger character in the story.)
I can't say more as to not spoil the story. However the more the story goes along, the more obvious what this vote was for will become apparent.
