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Sasuke blinked tiredly as he watched Sakura run back upstairs with more bandages in her hands. Her bright red dress-something that he believed would end up killing her one day-was covered in small speckles of blood.
Having been in the house when Tazuna and his teammate had burst inside with an unconscious and bleeding Naruto, Sasuke had been told a very brief version of how the blonde had almost killed himself.
Now Sakura and Tsunami where hovering over him, Sakura because she felt slightly responsible for the boy's injuries and Tsunami because Naruto had apparently saved her son's life and she felt obliged to take care of him; there was either one of them or Kakashi in his room at all times.
The quick squeak of the floorboards alerted the genin to Inari's arrival, the young boy had been very quiet since returning from the bridge but Sasuke believed it was just from his near death experience-those types of situations tended to do that to civilians.
"Is he ok?" the boy's small question somewhat startled the Uchiha however he hid it and shrugged in an unconcerned matter. He knew he was more than likely coming off as heartless, not caring about the welfare of his teammate.
But why should he care about someone who he had only met two weeks ago and that had more secrets than Sasuke himself held? Sure he had learned some things about the blonde, but Sasuke knew that no matter how much he discovered about Naruto there would always be another layer underneath. It was obvious the blonde had purposely built up these indestructible walls around his true thoughts and feelings to more than likely protect himself from any emotional pain; and he was beginning to wonder if the Naruto he knew was the real one, or just some fake personality he created for his team.
The Uchiha shook his head in mild annoyance, why on earth was he thinking about Naruto like he was a giant puzzle? He could care less if Naruto lived or died; they didn't even know each other so therefore as long as he didn't get in Sasuke's way anything he did was unimportant.
"Your friend is an idiot; he was stupid to risk his life like that." Sasuke found himself silently agreeing with the kid, Naruto was and idiot.
"Oh surely you're a little bit grateful; after all he did save your life." Kakashi smiled at both of them as he entered the room while holding the now familiar little orange book loosely in his hand. Inari huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to meet the jounin's eyes.
"Naruto should be fine, his back was cut pretty badly from the pipes but the bleedings stopped for now. He'll be out of commission for a little while though, even after he wakes up." The Uchiha grunted and Inari seemingly satisfied with the news-though trying not to look relieved-exited the room without saying anything.
Kakashi hummed in thought before glancing at his dark haired student and spoke.
"You know you and Naruto are actually quite similar if you ask me, you both have amazing potential for one" Kakashi stated as he flipped to the next page, if he noticed the sudden clenching of Sasuke's fists he didn't say anything.
"And you both lost your families at a young age." Sasuke glared murderously at the floor boards below him and Kakashi took the hint to drop the subject of family when near the Uchiha.
"We're nothing alike." He muttered quietly but did allow his thoughts to stray as he reconsidered the statement. Both he and Naruto were orphans, and they were both considered abnormal to the general populace of their village though for completely different reasons. He frowned as he remembered the blonde he had known back even before they had enrolled into the same class; he recalled all of the times they had walked past each other only glancing each other's way half the time.
They knew of each other of course; the last Uchiha whose family had been murdered by his older brother and the blonde troublemaker/outcast who everyone avoided. They were both stared at, whispers followed them wherever they went and people tended to move out of the way whenever they walked by. But Sasuke didn't know anything about the blonde's family at the time, he had just assumed the blonde ignored the instructions of his parents and went wild whenever he wanted.
He remembered when he had discovered that Naruto Uzumaki was in fact an orphan just like him, he knew it was wrong at the time but he was glad that there was someone like him out there. And though he would rather eat a dozen kunai then admit this, he enjoyed every fight Naruto initiated whether it was verbal or physical.
Kakashi nodded to himself. Seeing the look of his student's face clearly said he was starting to rethink his earlier claim about the difference in their lives; which was a good thing. If the two boys could overcome their stubbornness and accept the other then not only would their teamwork improve but it might just help them out of their dark pasts if they had a friend who understood the type of pain each of them suffered from.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" he looked up when Sakura literally came catapulting down the stairs, slightly stumbling as she ran to him and latched onto his arm. The girl began pulling him towards where she had just come from "It's Naruto! Something's wrong! He's writhing and groaning and there's a strange mark on his chest! I don't know what's wrong with him!"
Kakashi quickly sprinted up the stairs with both Sakura and Sasuke, surprisingly, at his heels. When he reached the room that they had placed Naruto in; he barely paused in the doorway before marching across the room and pulling the frightened Tsunami away from the squirming blonde on the ground.
After making sure the woman was safely away he quickly turned back to Naruto and caught a glimpse of the seal Minato had placed on him seeming to quiver with power. It was then he became aware of the flaring of Naruto's chakra; the amount he had just by himself was enormous for someone of his size but that wasn't what alarmed the skilled jounin.
It was the strong emotions he was picking up; it was normally somewhat difficult for anyone to tell the exact emotions you were feeling from just feeling your chakra; but the ones Naruto was radiating were literally beginning to heat the room. Fear and anger were the main ones.
Wasting no time he pulled up his headband and activated his sharingan to get a better look at what was happening. He latched onto one of Naruto's forearms and pinned it next to him so it wouldn't move and almost let it go when the blonde twisted, oblivious to the damage he was causing to his already injured back.
"Naruto!" he shouted, trying to wake the boy up "Naruto calm down!" he ordered as he grabbed the other arm and pinned it down as well. With his sharingan now activated he finally became aware of the blonde's chakra that was moving towards every single wound on his body.
However the normal blue colour had flicks of red throughout it. Kakashi looked over his shoulder at the other three in the room and jerked his head at the door "Out, now." He ordered before turning back to Naruto.
When the door slid shut Kakashi wasted no time, he placed his hand on Naruto's head and sent a jolt of his own chakra into the boy. It was dangerous just practically shove it into Naruto considering the amount he was already generating but Kakashi hoped it would shock him awake.
Naruto's eyes shot open and acting on reflex he sat up and began looking around wildly. When his eyes landed on Kakashi he relaxed and let out a sigh of relief "It was just a dream" he murmured to himself as he ran a hand through his sweaty hair. Kakashi took note of the tears that were threatening to spill out of Naruto's eyes.
Carefully the jounin placed a hand gently on his student's shoulder, his hand could still feel the heat his chakra had been producing through the bloody bandages. "Are you ok Naruto?" his voice was soft but concerned as he watched the boy tremble with silent sobs.
"No" it was barely audible but with his enhanced hearing Kakashi managed to pick it up. "What happened?" he asked and the blonde's breath hitched as the tears now ran freely down his face.
The boy was silent for about two minutes before his weak voice filled the room; "I remembered" he said simply, his teary eyes stared unseeingly at the door. Kakashi frowned at the answer and tightened his grip on his students shoulder only to loosen when Naruto grimaced. "What did you remember Naruto?" He didn't mean for the slight amount of irritation creep into his voice but his patience was wearing thin.
Naruto blinked and sniffled before turning to look at his new sensei, when he caught the man's eye another wave of tears came though he refrained from making any noise. Over the weeks Kakashi had known Naruto he had become used to the blonde's brightly coloured eyes. However now they weren't the cerulean blue they usually were, they were a much darker cobalt colour now. And they displayed great torture and self-hate.
Kakashi felt a small amount of sympathy swell up inside of him at the look, he knew better than both Sakura and Sasuke that Naruto was far from the average loud-mouthed idiot; he knew that unlike his two teammates Naruto had already taken his first life, that he had already seen some things that even a grown man should never witness.
"The blood; there was so much blood Kakashi-sensei. I was covered in it." The temperature in the room seemed to drop at the broken voice of his strongest student. "And that's not even the worst part" he choked out; catching his sensei's eye again and let out a shuddering breathe.
"I killed them all. It was my fault; if I hadn't gotten frustrated and scared the Kyuubi wouldn't have had the chance. Do you know what's it's like to have that on your shoulders; knowing that if you hadn't lost control for one second that hundreds of people would still be -" he stopped when three sharp raps on the door interrupted the heavy mood in the room.
Kakashi let go of Naruto and looked at the closed door, however when he glanced back he was surprised to find Naruto's face was devoid of tears or any signs that he had been crying only a second ago other than the slight redness around his eyes, and even that was fading fast.
Shaking his head the jounin stood from his crouched position and opened the door, ready for the worried women on the other side. Almost as soon as he had it opened his hand slammed into the wall to stop both Sakura and Tsunami from entering; he smiled pleasantly at them when they set him annoyed and confused looks, easily covering up his own unease at what the blonde had just shared with him.
"Naruto's fine, he just had a nightmare and is a little tired and stressed so only one at a time. And try not to make a lot of noise ok" he patted Sakura on the head and swiftly moved past both Tsunami and Sasuke and made his way to the stairs. He had a lot to think about after all.
As soon as the silver-haired man was gone Sakura all but launched herself into the room. She moved more slowly over to her silence teammate and knelt next to his hunched form. Her hand reached out and brushed against his cheek, "Are you ok Naruto?" she whispered, well aware of the tightness of his jaw.
The blonde raised his head and locked eyes with her, his usual smile splashed across his tanned skin "Of course Sakura, that pole didn't pack enough punch to hurt me that much." His voice seemed too cheery and the pinkette refrained from informing the boy that he had been out for almost two days and the wound on his back had been bleeding quite a lot when she had first looked at it.
Her feelings must have shown on her face because Naruto reached out and gently touched her shoulder, his smile seemed to turn to one of slight amusement "Really Sakura, other than my back I'm fine. It was just a silly dream" he chuckled.
"What was it about then?" she asked, not looking up when she heard the door open, more concerned about the blonde's strange actions. She noticed his eyes flicker from her face to the door and scowled when he stalled answering her question.
"Oh you know, just something that happened on my training trip, it was nothing reall-"
"Answer the question loser." Sakura turned to see Sasuke leaning against the glaring at Naruto who returned the look whole-heartedly. "I don't believe you were invited into this conversation Sasuke; surely someone from such a high-classed family as you would know what manners were." The defensiveness and hostility in Naruto's voice obviously caught them both off-guard.
Instantly backing up her crush's side of the argument Sakura stood up and placed her hands on her hips in what was supposed to be an intimidating pose, however it only seemed to tick the blonde off more. "Answer Naruto" she ordered like a strict teacher.
Naruto glared at both of them and practically growled out "It's none of your business, now. Let. It. Go."
Sasuke pushed off the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, never moving his gaze from the agitated blonde "It's a simple question Naruto. But if you don't want to answer can you at least tell me what the hell you and Kakashi-sensei were talking about that night?"
If possible Naruto seemed even angrier; his eyes were nothing more than blue slits and Sakura saw flickers of red surrounding the pupil. The blonde's upper lip curled up in a snarl and his teeth were bared, making his usually kind and joyful face became more dangerous and animalistic; it actually unnerved the other two genin.
"That is definitely none of your business Uchiha. What I talk to Kakashi about is between me and him, not you so you should drop it if you know what's good for you." Sasuke clenched his fists and took a step forward only for Naruto to ripped his blankets off him and stand.
"Back off Sasuke, this is something you don't want to do, trust me." The blonde growled; Sasuke took another step forward. "Why should I trust you dobe if you won't even tell us anything about you? What the hell is so bad that you can't even tell your teammates?"
For a second a look of alarm flashed across Naruto's face but it disappeared leaving Sasuke wondering if it was even there in the first place. But the blonde seemed to back off and his anger looked like it vanished; now without the furious expression he really did look like twelve year olds.
"Just forget Sasuke, there are something's about me that no one should ever know; my past being one." The tired and defeated tone seemed to finally break the tense air in the room, leaving all three of them standing awkwardly and trying to not look in the other's general direction.
"Oh there you all are" the three leaf shinobi turned to see Tsunami standing at the door; the bright smile on her face clearly showed that she wasn't aware of the almost-fight between the children. "Dinner is ready but if you want I can bring you some Naruto?"
Said blonde shot both of Sakura and Sasuke a look before smile happily and stepping forward "That's fine; I think a little time out of this room would be best, it gets quite stuffy in here after a while." He sent her another actor-worthy smile and moved to the door "We'll be down in a minute ok" the gently woman nodded happily and patted him on the head before leaving to go back to the dining area.
One she was gone Naruto turned back to his teammates, his happy-go-lucky smile was now non-existent as he stared hard at them both for a long period of time. Finally he turned and exited the room, quickly throwing on a shirt to cover the bloody bandages wrapped tightly around his upper chest.
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Naruto sighed in relief when he slipped out of the house and leaned heavily against the wall. "I'm a complete idiot!" he whispered angrily as he tugged at his bright blonde locks. "Why on earth did I tell them those things? Now that stupid bastard is going to be even more annoying; I wouldn't be surprised if he started his own investigation to find out everything about me!"
Hitting himself on the head for good measure Naruto quickly checked that his shoes were strapped properly to his feet before stepping away from the house. His footsteps fell heavily and echoed across off the walls of the empty street; the sun was still setting and bathed the town in a soft pinkish glow.
There was plenty of wind but Naruto was well aware of his higher body temperature compared to normal people – thanks to the Kyuubi –and was glad he barely felt the cold air.
"Stupid Wave Country, why couldn't we get something more challenging from the Old Man? Sure Zabuza was an unexpected surprise but if he was still alive wouldn't he have attacked by now? Maybe Kakashi and I were wrong?" He paused for a moment and shook his head before resuming walking "Nah our theories make sense; so maybe that jutsu from Kakashi took more out of him then I thought."
Naruto pursed his lips, not really caring that he was talking to himself and probably looked crazy if anyone was watching. His head lowered so that he could only see about three metres in front of him as he continued to talk to himself. "Why was that masked guy hiding the whole time if he was working with Zabuza? Kakashi was having some trouble holding off against him; if they both attacked us simultaneously then one of us probably would have died."
Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair, frowning when he came across some knots, then moving to scratch his neck. He winced when his back reminded him that it was injured and carefully pulled his hand back down to his side.
"Come on Fox, heal the damn wound already; it's been what? Two day? And I still have it; you must really have it out for me this time." He muttered and turned left, knowing he was heading in the general direction of the bridge. The Kyuubi and he had a rough relationship, depending on how serious the injury the wound, where it was and how the fox felt depended on how the demon healed it. Usually it healed the injuries so that not even a scar was left behind or, like now, it was being sour and refused to help – only making sure that it wasn't life-threatening and leaving it to heal on its own.
Naruto bit the inside of his bottom lip and walked quietly along the unfinished bridge; there was no one there and the only source of light where the small lanterns hanging randomly around. The only sound he could properly make out other than the crashing of the waves hitting the supports underneath and the occasional creak of the wooden beams from the wind.
"It's too quiet here" he whispered in annoyance and confusion; he had spent a lot of his time in villages like this and he knew that even in the early evening he should still be able to see and hear seagulls and other birds.
A flicker of chakra alerted him to another's presence near him and in instinct his whole body tensed; his chakra spread out and located whoever was spying on him, trying to determine if it was friend or foe. He huffed when he recognised it as Inari's very underdeveloped chakra signature and moved to find the young boy before he managed to hurt himself.
Spotting the kid a few metres away looking around in confusion Naruto rolled his eyes but smiled to himself. He silently jumped onto one of the higher levels were tool were stored and moved along until he was directly in line with the brunette. Making sure Inari wasn't looking in his direction the blonde leapt from his spot and landed behind the boy who still hadn't noticed him and his smile grew.
"What are you doing out here?" he asked and chuckled when Inari yelped and jumped away from him in fright. The younger boy turned and glared angrily at the smirking blonde before sobering up and crossing his arms over his chest. "I could ask you the same thing" he snapped back "My mum says you shouldn't have left the house because…of…your...wound."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at his fractured sentence but didn't comment instead he nodded "Well normally I would but I needed to get out of there for a while; you know, gets a little boring for a ninja to be confined to a room all day long. That's one of the reasons we don't like hospitals." He said in a nonchalant manner accompanied with a shrug.
Inari let his arms drop to his side and stared up at Naruto in a suspicious and perplexed expression "I heard you talking with your friends" he muttered, as if he felt guilty for eavesdropping on their conversation. Naruto bit back a groan but did let his head swing back so he was looking up at the sky; 'Great, now I've got the little kid to deal with as well as Sasuke and Sakura. What is with people and not minding their own business?'
He sighed minutely and looked back at Inari in a serious way "Then you know how I'll react if you bring it up ok." He really didn't want to get angry at a kid, they were always his weakness and he always felt the need to be their friend; being mad at one for being curious was something he really didn't want to do.
Instead he changed the subject.
"You still haven't told me why you're here, at night, all alone"
"I'm not alone, you're with me." Naruto felt his lips twitch at the fast comment and lost the battle against his smile. "Well yeah, but I wasn't with you when you first came here; so what were you doing here at the bridge if someone – other than me – wasn't here?"
The brunette's mouth tweaked up at the corners at the playful tone from the blonde but wiped it from his face before Naruto noticed; or at least he hoped he didn't notice, you could never be too careful with ninja.
"I sometimes come here to think; but not very often since my grandpa doesn't like me going out alone, especially at night." Naruto nodded in understanding and looked around for anything that would break the awkward silence between them. His eyes fell on a small photo frame on the ground just in front of him and realised Inari must have dropped it; he swiftly bent down and swiped it into his hands, careful not to damage it too much.
He turned it over and stared at the man in the photo with curiosity, he recognised the house in the background as Tazuna's but that wasn't what drew his attention; it was the large and happy grin on the man's face. Naruto pursed his lips and held the object out to Inari who gingerly took it and cradled it to his chest, the boy turned side on to Naruto and gazed down at the man in sorrow.
"Is he your dad?" Naruto asked quietly, not moving from his spot in case he did something unwelcomed by the little boy.
Inari nodded mutely and whispered "Was. He was my step-dad." The saddened look on his face tugged at Naruto's heart and he viciously fought the urge to go and hug the brunette. "He was killed by some of Gato's men because he stood up to him. Kaiza was an idiot for doing that; he promised that he would help to protect our village, but he didn't and my mum's hurt because of it. Now that the bridge is almost finished Gato's been even crueller, he's doesn't want it to be finished so that's why Grandpa's in trouble."
Naruto watched as the young boy began crying, his eyes held sympathy and understanding and his hands were unconsciously clenched at his sides. Slowly he moved forward and wrapped Inari in a gentle hug; patting his head in an attempt to calm him down.
His right hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his own small photo; breaking the hug Naruto held it up in the light so Inari could see the two smiling figures. The woman was beautiful in his opinion with her blood red, waist length hair and her warm grey eyes. She had a small amused smile on her lips and wore a simple black pants and shirt with a green vest thrown over the top, her pale hands were being held by the young man next to her.
His hair was bright blonde and his eyes were cerulean blue, his tanned face was lit up with a smile of unspoken happiness obviously at something the woman just said. He wore a dark blue shirt and pants with a funny red circle on the upper left arm. Inari reached out and touched the woman in awe "She's really pretty" he murmured.
Naruto nodded, just as lost in the woman's looks as he was "Yeah, she was my mum; Kushina Uzumaki." Slowly he tapped the man next to her and his gentle smile grew "And that idiot there was my father, Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of my village. This was taken by one of my dad's friends after he just asked my mum out on their first real date."
Inari sent a side glance to the blonde and frowned "Are they-?" he stopped when Naruto nodded and stood from his crouched "Yeah, they died the day I was born. My village was attacked exactly around the time my mum gave birth, she died just after. Dad, since he was the village leader went out and fought against the bad guy; he died stopping him from destroying the village. I was only a couple of hours old so I never got to meet them." He obviously left out the bit about the Kyuubi and that he was partly responsible for the seal becoming so weak, also how the demon fox was now sealed inside his own body.
Inari looked back at the photo in wonder, they both seemed extremely happy to just be near each other and they both looked like very nice people. He felt bad for the ninja for never getting to meet his parents; he wondered if this had something to do with what he had said to his teammates earlier? Did they even know this? Why was Naruto telling him of all people?
The blonde shinobi didn't seem to notice the look on the brunette's face because he continued talking. "Yeah, I didn't even know they were my parents until I was about nine. My other sensei told me, he's my godfather so it was good that I got to spend time with him. It was kind of hard at first, knowing that it was kind of my fault that they died but Jiraiya-sensei snapped me back to sense; he told me that I shouldn't blame myself, instead I should enjoy the life my parents gave me. He said to not be angry or sad or any of those other crappy emotions, he hit me on the head and said that I'm now living for three; my dad, my mum and me and that I should make them proud by becoming stronger and taking care of myself."
Inari stared at Naruto in confusion and also awe, the dreamy look on the blonde's face clearly showed that he was too lost in memories to care about his surroundings anymore. "We're kind of alike you know; Kaiza might have died but I don't think he would want someone he clearly cared deeply for him wallowing away in sadness and anger. You've got to move past you're negative emotions and think about what he left behind for you. You should make him proud by doing what he believed in, you're just like me; we've got to live for our dead precious people."
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Naruto waved as Inari ran off towards the house, he had no doubt that the boy could get there without getting hurt but with the recent attempt on his life by Gato Naruto wasn't willing to take the chance. So quietly he followed the brunette until he was safely inside his house and greeting his mother. A smile slipped onto his face when he remembered the boy's reaction to what he had told him; Jiraiya had always told him that he had the ability to change the people around him for the better.
Maybe the old pervert wasn't as wrong as he had first believed about that.
Naruto turned and leaned against the wall he had been using to hide from Inari and ran a hand through his hair, scratching his scalp and closing his eyes. He knew that if Jiraiya was here he would be dragging him kicking and screaming back to his bed to rest; they always disagreed to what amount of sleep Naruto needed or when he was healed. It was like the guy was trying too hard to make up for the years when he had had no one to watch over him or care for him. And Naruto loved that, he really did but sometimes Jiraiya went a little overboard with his doting.
He sighed again and realised that he seemed to be doing a lot of that since he joined Team 7. Naruto pushed off the cold wall and heading back the way he had come, this time passing the turn that would take him to the bridge and straight to the forest where Kakashi had first taken them to train.
His chakra spread out as he walked calmly through the dark trees; he could hear the satisfying crunch under his feet with every step and couldn't help but smile slightly at the sense of peacefulness he was getting from just being there.
His walk was undisturbed for about twenty minutes before he finally felt something abnormal in his surroundings. Outwardly he appeared to still be the same but on the inside his mind was racing on who he had sensed and what they were doing out here. He instantly felt like hitting himself for not masking his chakra; he knew that his was very strong – even with half of it blocked off – and that it probably stood out like a beacon in this uninhabited area.
'Great going genius' he thought bitterly as he came to a nicely sized clearing and nodded; he walked to the centre and stopped. His posture was relaxed and his hands were in his pockets but his eyes were calculating and shifting from one spot to another; never lingering in one place for long.
"You can come out you know" he called, knowing full well that whoever was following would make themselves known soon. As if on cue a familiar figure appeared in front of him, everything down to the mask was the same except that the person's form was relaxed as well.
Naruto raise his eyebrows in surprise because out of all the people that had flashed through his head, he did not even come close to thinking about this guy.
"You."
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Kakashi was beginning to think taking on three students was a terrible idea.
One had the social skills of a rock and thought everyone was below him; another was absolutely infatuated with the first and could care less about developing her skills as a ninja. The third was by far the most difficult person he had ever encountered – apart from Obito.
First he refuses to acknowledge his teammates, then when he finally starts opening up to them, he gets into a fight and disappears off the face of the earth for three days, reappears not talking to anyone about where he was, gets himself seriously injured, is out for another day, wakes up in tears, apparently gets into a fight with his teammates and runs off again.
Yep, he was seriously considering pawning them off onto another Jounin just to get rid of the extra stress.
He remember after dinner watching Naruto take off without so much as a goodbye; then Sakura and Sasuke practically ambushing him, asking what Naruto was hiding and why he didn't trust them enough to tell them anything. Well, it was mainly Sakura doing the asking with Sasuke standing just behind her.
His headache got worse when Tsunami came and said her young son had disappeared and she didn't know where he was; causing them to have to go out into the cold night and look for him, returning to find the once angry and anti-social boy now happily telling them how he had spoken with Naruto and the small amount of wisdom the blonde had passed on.
This only caused his two other students to get more upset, seeing as how Naruto trusted a small kid that he didn't know well more than his own team which he known him for almost a month. To top it all off Naruto had yet to return from his little field trip.
"Kakashi-sensei, are you ready to go to the bridge now?" he looked up from his book and smiled happily at the young pink-haired girl. "Yep, if everyone's ready let's go" he stood from the chair he had been sitting on and moved to the door, opening it and letting Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna out before closing it.
"What about the dobe Kakashi?" Sasuke asked in his usual monotone/annoyed voice. The jounin paused for a second before turning to the small group "Yeah, I haven't seen that little brat in a while; you sure he's even still alive?"
Even though he seemed unaffected Kakashi's thoughts immediately went to five days ago when Naruto had told him that he sensed someone nearby. He hoped that the blonde hadn't been attacked by Zabuza or another one of Gato's men because even though Jiraiya had told him the blonde was able to take care of himself and had been doing it for years, he knew that with a wound as serious as his – even with the Kyuubi healing it – Naruto was still very weak.
"I'm sure Naruto's fine; his other sensei told me that he liked to go off by himself a lot so there's nothing to worry about." That was a lie; even though he had spoken with Jiraiya and the Sannin had given him some information he mentioned nothing about Naruto's 'random disappearing act'. The jounin pulled out his small orange book and took the lead, constantly searching for the blonde's very recognisable chakra signature.
It wasn't long before they arrived at the bridge and began working; Sakura was paired with Tazuna while Sasuke and Kakashi helped oversee some of the younger and more inexperienced workers near the edge.
"Kakashi" said man looked at the dark haired genin in curiosity "Yes Sasuke?" he answered with his usual drawl. The calculating expression immediately sent warning bells off in Kakashi's head but he refrained from acting on his instinct to divert the conversation; he decided to just let Sasuke talk and pray that he didn't bring up anything to do with his blonde teammate.
"Why was there a seal on Naruto's stomach?"
Damn, these kids could never let him have a break could they? "Well many ninjas have had seals placed on them to do all kinds of things like store chakra, increase strength, stamina or speed, to heal so it's not that unusual to see them." He hoped that would be enough for the boy but in the short time he had had this squad he knew Sasuke would only accept it for a small amount of time before something else caused him to get interested again.
Kakashi watched as the Uchiha's eyes narrowed minutely and his lips pressed into a thin line. It was obvious he knew that Kakashi hadn't directly answered his question; instead giving him information that would lead him away from his original query on why Naruto had a seal.
With a grunt the dark haired boy turned away, letting his sensei off the hook for now. Sasuke knew that Kakashi knew something but was refusing to tell them, he knew why Naruto didn't trust them and why the blonde got so worked up when he mentioned the talk between the jounin and blonde about a week ago.
Though what Naruto had said did linger in his mind, and although Sasuke hated to admit it, there was some truth behind his words. Why should he trust them with his secrets? He didn't know them well enough to do something like that, and Naruto clearly had issues with people invading his business and asking about subjects he didn't want to talk about. Sasuke certainly didn't want to tell the others about what had happened in his life, the massacre was a touchy topic for him and he had snapped more than once when someone had stupidly mentioned his family.
His forehead creased in irritation as he went to help lift a metal bar with one of the workers; it annoyed him how he was still thinking about Naruto. He didn't think of the blonde as a friend, because they hadn't spent any time together other than missions, training and the odd time Naruto would invite everyone to come to his favourite ramen stand.
He inwardly sighed and shook his head to clear it of any thoughts on his ridiculous teammate; choosing to focus more on what he was currently doing.
OoOoOoOoO
Naruto slowly opened his eyes, but stopped when the blaring sunlight was all he could see; leaving his eyes for the moment to do a mental check of himself and excluding the fact that he couldn't move his body and had a major headache he happily noted that everything seemed to be fine.
Carefully the blonde tried opening his eyes again, this time more prepared for the intense light and successfully managed to turn his head to the side to lessen the damage. He felt like he was made out of metal when he attempted to move again and groaned loudly in annoyance and pain.
"Ok Naruto, what the hell happened? You certainly didn't get drunk or eat anything other than Tsunami's cooking; must have inhaled some fume or something" he concluded as he flexed his fingers and smiled when they obeyed his command. "Looks like whatever I had is wearing off now that I'm awake; that's good." His throat hurt from speaking – no doubt because he hadn't drunk anything in hours – but it made him feel better being able to hear something familiar, especially in his current state.
After a few more seconds of deliberation he decided to just wait whatever was affecting him out; he could already feel his advanced immune system filtering it out of him and thanked his father for sealing the demon inside of him just because of his unnatural healing abilities. It had definitely come in handy over the years he had been travelling with Jiraiya.
Staying in his laying down position until he could move Naruto sighed and thought back to last night to remember what he had been doing. He clearly remembered his talk with Inari and making sure the kid got home safely and he knew that he had walked off after that and into the woods. He blinked and wished he could slap himself for his stupidity.
"How the hell could I have let that dude do that to me? Kami we were enemies and I let my guard down like that! Jiraiya would be spewing right now if he was here." Naruto bit his lip and continued his mental brattle before a thought hit him like a rock "Today's the day" he whispered "They're going to attack today. I have to get to Kakashi and tell him."
Naruto pulled himself into a sitting position and proceeded to stand on his wobbly legs; he waited until his balance came and took off through the trees in the direction of Tazuna's house, hoping his team was still there.
It was barely two minutes before Naruto had landed, crouched in front of the half opened door. His eyes narrowed and as he stood he swayed dangerously and grimaced when he realised that he still wasn't back to normal.
Quietly and as gracefully as he could he nudged open the door so he had enough room to enter and froze at the sight of the chaotic jumble that met him. Nearly everything was turned over or broken and his breathe caught when he saw a tanto wedged in the wall adjacent to him. With a trembling hand he gripped its handle and yanked it out of the wood to get a better look at it.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" the scream was so unexpected that Naruto dropped the short blade, his head whipped back from the direction of the shout and back to the knife and he made a grab for it. Naruto – once the tanto was safely back in his hands – sprinted towards the back of the house and hide behind an overturned table as he watched silently as Tsunami was slapped across the cheek by some scrawny looking mercenary whose face was twisted in some sick amused smile.
His partner, who was much more muscular and scary looking held a crying Inari in his beefy arms while he too looked on in the same disgusting form of amusement. Naruto narrowed his eyes in fury as Tsunami copped another blow across her cheek; his hands clenched around the hilt of the blade in his hand and he wished he had his sword with him at that moment.
His anger only grew when the smaller assailant spoke "Now are ya gonna be a good girl and come with us? Or is my friend here gonna have ta break ya son's neck?" the gentle woman had tears running freely down her bruised face and when she didn't answer the man raised his hand again to give her another hit.
Inari shouted in protest, only to be silence when his captor tighten his hold on him and Naruto let out a growl; just loud enough to break through the sobbing and muffled shouts. Everything in the room paused as he stood from his spot and in plain view of the two men who were looking at him in surprise.
Naruto didn't give them a chance to even speak, his foot lashed out and sent the table slamming into the rogue nearest to Tsunami. It pinned him to the wall just long enough for Naruto to turn to face the guy holding Inari with a kunai at the wide-eyed boy's throat. "D-don't come any closer; or the k-kid gets it."
The blonde inwardly rolled his eyes at the terror so clearly splashed across the man's, he was about half his size and now in a tricky position with a hostage involved and the guy was afraid of him; what was wrong with this picture?
Without a word Naruto held up the tanto so his enemy could see it, he flipped it in the air so he now gripped the tip of the sharp blade in his forefinger and thumb. Closing one eye and lining it up he watched as the man froze; pulling his arm back Naruto let the blade fly and waited until it lodged itself in the man's shoulder to cross the three metres separating them and swiping the shaking Inari from his arms and placing him next to his crying mother who latched onto him.
Now that they no longer had hostages the two mercenaries looked at each other before making a break for the back door. Naruto watched as they went with a glare, he turned back to Tsunami and her son "You guys stay here, I'll leave a clone in case Gato sends someone else but I doubt he will after his goons go back with my message."
A small puff of smoke appeared next to him and dispersed to reveal another Naruto, the two twins nodded to each other and the original quickly raced up the stairs and grabbed his gear; when he walked past the clone he tossed it his sword since it had no weapons and headed out the back door in pursuit of Gato's men.
It didn't take long to catch up to them since they obviously couldn't use their chakra very well to escape. He landed in front of them with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes narrowed; they both let out a yelp and turned to run only to find the blonde blocking their way.
Naruto rolled his eyes at the look of utter horror on their faces, it wasn't like it was a big thing to jump over them. He took a step toward them and stared at the sword that was pointed at him in boredom "Stay back brat!" the smaller rogue shouted. Naruto scoffed and grabbed the blade of the sword, not caring that it bit into his hand and tugged it out of its owner's hands, then throwing it aside.
"Relax idiots I'm not going to kill you" he snorted and took another step forward "I just want you to go back to your boss and tell him exactly what I say; can you do that?" not giving them a chance to answer he carried on "You tell Gato that if he ever messes with this town again I'll hunt him and every single person who works for him down. And if you two ever even look at that family again I'll pound you ok."
He pointed in the opposite direction of the house "Now get the hell away from me and pray that you don't ever see me again."
OoOoOoOoO
The mist was the first thing that warned him, it was too thick and chakra infused to be natural. So naturally he called his students and client to him to wait for Zabuza to show himself; his eye shifted left and right until he could barely see two feet in front of him and he gave up the fight.
His hands flashed through familiar signs and a large gust of wind easily blew the dense cloud away; as the bridge cleared he started to make out two faint silhouettes not ten metres from them. He placed them both almost immediately and spared a glance to Sasuke and Sakura to see that they too recognised the two.
"Zabuza" he called, his voice taking on a steely and unwelcoming tone that caused the other man to laugh hauntingly. "Yes Kakashi, surprised I still alive?" he asked with an unseen sneer.
"Not exactly; my other student and I figured out what really happened. How your little friend hit you in the pressure points in your neck to imitate death; we knew it was only a matter of time before you showed up again."
Zabuza glared at the team from Konoha before smirking madly, he began chuckling "Yeah your little blonde brat isn't here though? What happened? Did he get lost? Or maybe something more serious could have happened to your student, you never know what kinds of thing you could find in the woods at night; isn't that right Haku?"
The figure next to him nodded but remained silent, Zabuza didn't seem to care as he continued, enjoying the look of horror that bloomed on Kakashi's face, as well as the three behind him. "It was a shame Haku didn't let him live long enough for a rematch but I thought it was better to get him out of the way sooner rather than later."
Kakashi bowed his head and let his shoulders slump as Zabuza's words rang in his ears; he knew that there was a high possibility that the missing-nin was lying but he hadn't seen Naruto since last night or been able to sense his rather noticeable chakra source. But surely Naruto wouldn't have been taken out so easily; even with the wound on his back the blonde would have definitely put up a fight.
"You seem upset Hatake; is it because you couldn't even keep one of your students alive? Or maybe it's because the kid died alone in the cold by himself? How does it feel to know that the brat was killed under your watch hmm?"
Haku stood rigidly next to his master but couldn't stop the slight guilt build up inside him for allowing Zabuza to continue talking about a boy that isn't even dead.
oO Flashback Oo
"You."
He didn't say anything as the boy turned to face him fully; the look of surprise on his face was the only sign that he hadn't anticipated this encounter. Other than that his entire body was relaxed which was quite a feat when in the presence of an enemy.
"How did you know I was following you?" he asked and the blonde tilted his head to the side with an amused smile tugging at the corners of his lips; his blue eyes shined in a friendly way and Haku had to hand it to the twelve year old, he really pulled off the innocent kid act very well. It was obviously a mask though because he had seen Naruto in action and had been watching him for a while; the blonde was much more than the dumb idiot he pretended to be.
"You can mask your chakra excellently, but the problem is you do it too well. Everything has chakra flowing through it so when you masked yours there was a strange empty blob following me; sort of like a pin-sized hole in a piece of paper, not very noticeable unless you're looking for it."
"You knew you were being watched?" he asked and the blonde shifted so he now had his arms crossed in front of him and his eyebrows raised. "Well I knew it was only a matter of time before you and Zabuza popped up again. I've been on guard since before the incident at the bridge; which I assume you guys are responsible for."
Haku didn't deny or agree to the statement so Naruto nodded to himself. His eyes quickly scanned the area and Haku felt his chakra flare slightly, he threw a senbon and watched as it connected with the blonde's upper arm. Naruto winced at the sudden pain but didn't show any other signs of discomfort; he slowly reached up and yanked the small needle out of his arm with a grunt.
"Are you not going to fight?" Naruto shrugged and rolled his shoulders while looking away; he didn't seem to care that he was just injured. "Not much point, I probably wouldn't last long against you in my current state unless I used something dangerous to heal myself faster."
Haku changed his footing so he now mirrored the boy's pose, neither spoke for a long time, only occasionally would Naruto glance his way to make sure he was still there. "Are you here to kill me?" he asked nonchalantly, as if this sort of situation happened to him quite often, he didn't seem to care what his answer was so either he was extremely confident in his abilities to fight even though injured – despite what he said – or he really doesn't value his life in any way, shape or form.
"Yes."
Naruto nodded in understanding but didn't move, Haku stayed where he was too, making no move to engage the interesting blonde. "You aren't scared? I would think someone who was being threatened would show some signs of fear."
Naruto's lips twisted into an aloof, crooked smile "Of course I'm scared, maybe not as much as my teammates would be; I just hide it very well. My sensei taught me to control my emotions, which is hard for someone as emotional as me but I'm getting quite good at it if I do say so myself."
"You mean Hatake?" he asked, there was something about Naruto that made this conversation much easier than it should have been. The blonde snorted in supressed laughter "Nah not Kakashi-sensei; I mean Ero-sennin, he's been my legal guardian since I was eight. He saved me from my old life so I'm repaying him by keeping him alive throughout the years."
Haku blinked in surprise and his head tilted slightly to the side "You mean he's your precious person?" he asked, his monotone voice becoming softer, but Naruto still heard it. His forehead creased and he looked up at the dark sky in thought "Well I guess you could call the old pervert that; I'd do anything for him, even die if the need called for it." The casual way they were speaking, someone might have mistaken them for old friends rather than enemies.
Haku nodded and looked to the side "I to have a precious person" he said as he studied the pattern of the bark on the trees surrounding them. "Zabuza" Naruto supplied, neither needed to confirm the simple statement for both already knew it was true.
"He also saved me from an unwelcome life, now I serve him in payment." Naruto looked down at the dirt ground, he felt very relaxed around this guy and that was bad; they shouldn't forget where they both stood.
The silence in the small clearing was deafening and suffocating as well as awkward. Haku looked closely at the boy in front of him, Zabuza had ordered him to kill the blonde but now that he had actually spoken to the boy the task was even harder. He never really did like killing, even after all the years he had worked with Zabuza; there was still a foul taste in the back of his mouth whenever he was forced to take someone's life and he tried to avoid it as much as possible.
But maybe he didn't have to kill Naruto, he knew the human body like the back of his hand, it would be a simple task to knock the boy out; even easier to just give him a dose of a drug that would keep him out for days. He didn't like the idea of lying to his master, but he didn't like the thought of murdering Naruto any better.
Slowly so as not to draw the sharp blonde's attention from whatever on the ground he found so interesting, Haku reached into one of his hidden weapon poaches and pulled out two senbon laced with a strong knock-out drug, he knew of Naruto's advanced healing ability and knew that too keep him down for as long as he needed that the dosage had to be much larger than standard.
Quicker than lightning his hand released the small needles and watched as they embedded themselves in the blonde's left shoulder, close enough to his heart so that the drug would quickly spread to the rest of his body but not close enough to cause any damage to any vital arteries or tissue.
A startled gasp escaped Naruto's lips and his hand reached up and yanked the senbon out of him, his body started shaking violently and his breath quickened to as his heart rate increased. Not two seconds later did he collapse to all fours, his breath was now laboured and strained as if each one brought him pain. Haku knew however that the drug he had given the blonde didn't cause any pain; it was more like a soothing calm.
"You need to take deep breaths otherwise your heart will give out." He informed as he watched the boy follow his instructions; slowly the shaking stopped and his body began drooping towards the ground as a wave of tiredness swept over him.
"You drugged me" the words were slurred and Naruto slid lower to the dirty ground, now unable to properly support his body. "It will keep you out for more than two days with the dosage I gave you."
Naruto weakly smirked as he fully collapsed "It won't work" he whispered as his eyes began to close. Haku waited until he was sure Naruto was asleep before moving his body to a more comfortable position, 'At least I saved one of them' he thought.
He wiped away any trace of him ever being there, as well as the footprints left by Naruto so that no one would find him. The blonde's chakra was much lower now that he was sleeping and he knew that you would have to be within twenty yards to properly sense it.
He took off into the trees to inform Zabuza that he had indeed 'taken care of' Naruto and that the blonde shouldn't be a problem anymore.
oO End Flashback Oo
Sasuke clenched his fists and stepped forward, only to be stopped by Kakashi's arm. He looked up at the older man in anger "You need to keep a level-head Sasuke. Even if Naruto is really…gone…you can't let your emotions get the better of you."
"But Sensei, they killed Naruto! How can you just be so calm!" Sakura was on the verge of crying. It was true that she didn't know Naruto very well, but she had become somewhat attached to the blonde in the month or so that she had known him. Plus it was the first time someone she actually knew and talked to nearly every day had died.
"You two need to think. Zabuza's trying to get you worked up, it's a classic trick many people use. If your enemy is blinded by the emotions – mainly anger – then it make it easier for you. They could mess up one of their attacks or leave themselves open so calm down. I don't want to lose another member of my squad."
He watched out of the corner of his eye as both Sasuke and Sakura slowly willed themselves to move passed their anger and sadness and nodded when they both looked at him again. There were still tears in Sakura's eyes and Sasuke still looked ready to kill but they both seemed more aware or their surroundings.
"Good, Sakura you stay with Tazuna, you'll be the last line of defence so don't let your guard down for a second." The pinkette bobbed her head in understanding. "Sasuke, you'll take the one with the mask; be careful since you don't know what type of jutsu he uses. I'll take Zabuza."
The group nodded and Sakura grabbed the bridge builder's wrist and began tugging him away from where the battle was going to take place. She positioned him between two crates and stood in front of him with a kunai at the ready.
Seeing that she was good to go Kakashi stepped forward with Sasuke right behind him. Both faced their opponent and shifted into their fighting styles; Zabuza laughed madly and stepped forward, he pulled his sword from his back and pointed the tip at Kakashi. "I'm going to enjoy slicing you to pieces Copy-cat Ninja Kakashi."
OoOoOoOoO
Terribly sorry for the long wait, but I've been a little busy with school and family stuff lately. Still writing though so that's good!
By the way: Random Note! Some of you might be wondering why Naruto thinking Kushina died right after giving birth to him but remember that he doesn't know the whole story of what happened that day. He believes that the Kyuubi broke free on his own.
Hope you enjoyed the longest chapter I've ever written and please review so I can read what you think!
~Ninjalover-02~