Down the Untrodden Path Chapter Nine, a naruto fanfic

Note: Alternate universe. Fluffy friendship. Lots of WAFF! You have been warned. I'm afraid there are no pairings in this fic. Sorry. m( )m

————————————————————————
Down The Untrodden Path
————————————————————————
Chapter Nine

Iruka tightened the final knot on the bandages around Sasuke's bare torso, breathing a sigh of relief as he did. After moving the covers over the boy, he grabbed the basin of bloodied water beside him and silently walked out of the room, leaving an anxious Naruto and thoughtful Kakashi behind. Naruto then turned from staring at the sleeping Sasuke to Kakashi.

"Sensei, sensei!" The blond prodded the constable by his side with urgency. "What's going to happen now?" His voice was tinged with anxiety. He alternated between staring at Sasuke and Kakashi. "It's nothing too serious, right?" He clutched onto Kakashi's sleeve like a lost child. "Sasuke's not going to die or anything, right?"

"Calm down, Naruto," Kakashi disengaged Naruto's hand from his clothing. He stood and walked over to Sasuke, placing a hand on the unconscious boy's forehead. He frowned slightly, then moved to place two fingers beneath Sasuke's jawline, just on the neck. Naruto watched with wide, worried eyes, until Kakashi finished his impromptu examination. "He's down with a fever and has a weak pulse." The man announced. As he was about to explain further, the door to the room creaked open.

"That's right," it was Iruka, and he agreed with Kakashi with a nod, before turning to close the door and placing the fresh basin of water by the table beside the bed. After wetting a towel with the water and placing it over Sasuke's forehead, he picked up the offensive item they had pulled from the boy in a messy operation. Said item had been abandoned to the floor until now. "This arrow has been smeared with poison, and it was barely two inches away from his heart." He let his eyes rest upon Sasuke. "I'm surprised he's still alive. This was an attack intended to kill."

"It wasn't intended to kill /him, that's why!" Naruto stood suddenly, upturning the chair he had been sitting on. The two adults in the room stared at him in surprise as he continued, "If he hadn't pushed me aside... if he hadn't... then... I would have..."

Light dawned on both Iruka's and Kakashi's faces. They turned to stare at each other, suddenly understanding what might have transpired between the two boys. Sasuke mumbled something and tossed about, causing the towel on his forehead to drop off. Iruka then attended to the boy quickly, while Kakashi approached Naruto with a stern countenance.

"Naruto," the man said, and Naruto immediately looked up at him. "Did you see who the attacker was?"

The blond scrunched his face up in an attempt to remember. He then shook his head from side to side. "No... too many people gathering around. Couldn't see anybody beyond the first layer..."

"But Kakashi-san," Iruka had replaced the towel on Sasuke's head. He spun around slightly, "the fact that someone out there is premediating an attack on Naruto means that..."

"This whole thing reeks of Orochimaru's style," Kakashi scowl was almost visible through his mask. He strolled over to Sasuke's bedside again and stared long and hard at the prone figure lying there. In a while, he lifted his headband up from over his left eye. He opened it to reveal a red iris, complete with three spiral dots. With the strange new eye, he scrutinised Sasuke again.

Naruto had taken a step back instinctively when he saw Kakashi's hidden eye. He had never seen Kakashi lift his headband from over that eye before, and had assumed that he was simply blind in that eye. This was certainly news to him.

When he recovered enough and was about to ask something, though, Iruka hushed him with a hand on his lips. They watched as Kakashi lifted the covers slightly and peered at Sasuke's bandaged injury. The silence grew suspenseful, when Kakashi's eyes widened slightly. He put his free hand over his chin, pondering. Eventually he tossed the covers to one side and stepped away.

When he turned around, he was greeted with two pairs of overly serious, inquisitive eyes.

"Well?" Iruka demanded. "See anything that might give us a clue?"

"Sensei!" Naruto was awed. "Your eye! That's so cool! Where can I get one like that!"

Unfazed, Kakashi simply shot the duo a smile each. "Come along, children, and get back to your seats. The demonstration is just about to begin!" He herded them back to their seats with a sunny smile, adjusting his headband so that it now covered over the reddish eye again. Naruto and Iruka complied, both sitting gingerly back into the available seats.

"What's going on, Kakashi-san?" Iruka asked meekly, knowing that despite how frivolous Kakashi was acting at the moment, he meant serious business in the background.

"Hush now, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi formed a single seal with his hands as he spoke. "This isn't something I can explain by words alone." He closed his eyes and concentrated, a surge of Chakra suddenly filling the room up. "Kai!"

The release Jutsu came into effect immediately. Naruto and Iruka blinked at the same time, opening their eyes to see something suddenly different.

"Sasuke!" Iruka gasped, standing immediately and running towards the bedside. Naruto stood as well, though he was not sure what for yet. When he followed Iruka and got nearer to the bed, however, he began to see what both Iruka and Kakashi had gotten so flustered over.

All the while when Iruka had been treating Sasuke's chest injury previously, Naruto had seen nothing but pale, but otherwise flawless skin. Now that Kakashi had released the illusion surrounding the skin, however, Naruto was looking at something else entirely.

Huge gashes and large scars marred most of the Uchiha's visible skin. Some of them were fresh and yet to have fully healed, still red and sore with blood. One particularly nasty scar ran from Sasuke's right cheek all the way down to mid-stomach, ending in a huge blob of messily repaired and overlapping skin - evidence that this injury, though serious, had been quite old. There were so many other equally awful looking scars, both old and new, that Naruto wondered where and what Sasuke had been doing with his life all this time.

"Oh!" Kakashi suddenly quipped, pointing at the long scar Naruto had been staring at. "I remember that one!" He continued, much to the confusion of the other two present. Sheepishly scratching his hair, he explained, "I accidentally torched him a bit when teaching him the Chidori, quite some years ago."

Naruto bodyfaulted to the ground. Iruka resisted the urge to stab the constable to death with the poison arrow.

"The other scars are new, though," Kakashi's expression turned serious, as he gazed sadly at the other scars and injuries that decorated Sasuke's torso like ribbons and awards.

"Whoever did this," Naruto said, as he continued staring, "must have been really sick in the head." He finished his declaration, tone serious. Iruka gulped audibly, but he nodded to show his approval.

Kakashi gazed at the two of them for a while more. He then lowered his glance to Sasuke, and reversed the seal he had been holding, meaning to return the illusion to its original form. And he would have, if Iruka had not grabbed him by a wrist. The tutor shook his head firmly.

"Please erase the illusion permanently, Kakashi-san," the man spoke commandingly, surprising even the chief constable, who stared at him strangely. Just two minutes ago Iruka had been literally shaking on the spot by the hideous scars on Sasuke, and now he was back to his old, stubborn self. "I will treat to all the rest of his injuries as well."

Kakashi stared at Iruka for a while more, then shrugged. "If you say so, sensei," he stepped away, so that Iruka could have a closer look at the wounds Sasuke bore behind the illusion. "But I must warn you that even /I/ cannot remove this Genjutsu permanently, though I can abate it for a while," he smiled reassuringly at the surprised Iruka, "so please try your best, but make it really quick!"

"Kakashi-sensei, what's going on?" Naruto asked, as soon as he felt the time was right. Kakashi had removed himself from the immediate presence of the bed, sitting down on a nearby stool instead. "Why does Sasuke have so many scars and injuries? And why does he need to hide them all up?"

Iruka was busily attending to the rest of Sasuke's wounds, but it was not hard to tell that he had an ear on the conversation in the room as well. "Well, Naruto-kun," Kakashi began, in his usual slow drawl, "do you want the long, or short version?"

"JUST ANSWER ME ALREADY, DAMMIT!" The blond screeched, causing Kakashi to duck his head slightly.

"All right, all right," the constable stuck a finger into his ear to see if anything inside was damaged by the shriek. "In brief answer to your questions, then, Sasuke has so many injuries because someone has obviously been hunting him down like an animal. Hiding his wounds and putting on a mask of nonchalance is absolutely essential for wanted criminals like him, who will have law enforcers waiting to catch him at every turn of the corner. He has to make it seem like he is in top condition, so that most sane constables will leave him alone after giving chase for a while. That's why he has a Genjutsu cast on his body. Understood?" He cocked an eyebrow at the boy.

Naruto was looking rather shocked. "You mean the police constables did all these terrible things to him?"

Kakashi snorted. "If anyone in the constable force is strong enough to leave such wounds on Uchiha Sasuke, and so many times, too, then I'd like to meet that fellow," he shook his head. "No, Naruto," he finally answered. "I don't think the constables have anything to do with it this time."

"Orochimaru," Iruka spat the name out like it was deadly poison. He was dabbing some medicine onto one of the larger, more recent gash on Sasuke's right arm, and frowned hard at the wound. "He's been hunting Sasuke down... probably from since Sasuke ran away from the Palace with the Sword of Jewels."

Kakashi glanced at Iruka. "And why would that be so?" He prompted.

"I think Sasuke has mentioned before that the Sword is the representation of sovereign power in this land," Iruka pointed out. "It is a well known fact that anyone who manages to seize it and produce it before the masses on an appropriate occasion will have a right to challenge the current ruler for power."

"But Sasuke also clarified that that isn't how the Sword is supposed to be used," Kakashi shrugged. "Even if Orochimaru has the Sword, as long as he can't pull it out of the sheath, he has no right to the throne." To accentuate his point, Kakashi took the Sword of Jewels, which had been lying on the table beside the bed Sasuke was in, and held it sheath and hilt. He tugged, but the Sword stayed in the sheath. He tugged again, harder. The Sword did not so much as budge. He gave Iruka a knowing look.

"Yes, yes," Iruka's head bobbed up and down while he rolled his eyes slightly, "but how many people actually know about that?" He sighed. "It was a well-guarded royal secret only the the Uchiha clan was privy to - of which only two are left, one of whom is with Orochimaru and the other of whom is a wanted criminal..." he let his voice trail. "Not to mention this secret method of identification has never been used before in all of our land's history." This time, it was Iruka who shot Kakashi a knowing look. "Will any normal citizen, less say the royal council, take the words of a wanted criminal seriously?"

Kakashi's face turned brooding. And it was Naruto who next spoke up. "So?" He puffed up self-righteously. "Just make sure that Orochimaru creep doesn't so much as come near the Sword, isn't that easy?" He beamed, evidently proud at his suggestion. Kakashi turned his moody eyes to the blond.

"Do you know who Orochimaru is?" The silver-haired warrior eventually asked.

"He's the biggest jerk on the whole land, anyway I see it!" Naruto tossed a fist into the air.

"Well, yes, a bit of that," Kakashi agreed with a casual shrug. "More importantly though," he waved a finger before his face, "he is the Royal General of State." He paused, to see if Naruto was listening. He was, but he had a look of confusion on his face. Kakashi wondered if he should laugh or sigh. "It means, Naruto," he eventually gave up both ideas and simply continued, "that he is the most powerful fighter in the entire land. More powerful than any one person in the entire state's military forces, including," he chuckled dryly, "the constable force."

Naruto's eyes were wide with awe. "Including you?" He asked, voice soft with disbelief.

"Including me," Kakashi confirmed. There was no hint of joking in his voice at all. He allowed a second to pass for the information to fully sink in, but before Naruto could burst out in dramatics he rose to full height first and carried on his explanation. "While it may be true that Sasuke is strong, he is not the strongest. If he were to meet up with Orochimaru head-on in a one to one, he would have no chance at all. He won't just lose the Sword," Kakashi ran a hand through his hair, "...he'll lose his life as well."

This time, Naruto's reaction was swifter than before. "But he's done it for three years!" He declared. "That's gotta prove something!"

"Yes, Naruto, it does prove something," Iruka interjected, beads of sweat rolling down his cheeks as he tried to bandage up the smaller but older wounds Sasuke was bearing. "It proves that Orochimaru himself has never come out of the Palace to deal with Sasuke personally. All this time, he has been sending assassins and subordinates, which explains why Sasuke have survived thus far, although also with quite a bit of injuries..." he breathed a soft sigh, wiping a hand absently over his forehead. "And now that Orochimaru's target has apparently shifted to YOU," he looked at Naruto sternly in the eye, "means that Orochimaru already knows about your true status. He is obviously trying to get rid of any obstacle that stands in his way to the throne. And Naruto, you're the biggest one."

"Who cares about whether that guy's after me or not!" Naruto yelled, bouncing his way towards where Sasuke was with Iruka. "So in short, all these big wounds are on Sasuke because some pervert guy called Orochimaru was trying to steal the Sword of Jewels away from him, right? And Sasuke's been running away from both assassins and constables for the past three years of his life, right?" He got more and more agitated with each passing word of remark.

Iruka gaped in surprise, wondering what he should say in response.

It did not seem to matter to the blond. Naruto turned stalked towards Kakashi, grabbing the Sword and holding it in his hands. "Oh dammit! Now I'm all riled up!" He pulled the Sword out of the sheath effortlessly, making Kakashi feel slightly jealous as he waved the beautiful sword about in the air. "I've decided!" He announced, the Sword still high up in the air. "I'm going back with Sasuke to this Palace place and I'm gonna take on that Orochimaru guy and crush him to pieces!"

In just one split second, everything fell into silence. Suddenly, crickets started chirping.

"Naruto! Do you /know/ what you're talking about!" Iruka dropped the roll of bandages he had been holding onto the floor and stood abruptly. His eyes were bugged out and his mouth was wide open.

"Congratulations, Naruto!" Kakashi, however, was all smiles and he took Naruto's hand into his own, shaking them warmly, much to the ire of Iruka. "I thought this day would never come!"

"Oh yeah!" Naruto lowered the Sword and grinned like there would be no tomorrow to do it. "I'm gonna go kick some ass, yeah!"

"You want to go up against /Orochimaru," Iruka tried to contain his incredulity. "Are you absolutely mad!"

"No, sensei!" Naruto glowed. "I'm your brave and courageous little boy and I'm gonna go do you proud!"

"Yes he is," Kakashi nodded in the background, ignoring the glares Iruka was shooting in his direction.

"Naruto, are you really serious about this?" Iruka had calmed down considerably by now. His protective nature slowly relaxed, and his logical side took over.

"Sensei, I may love to pull pranks, but I won't joke about things like these!" Naruto made a face. Then he straightened it. "Sasuke's went through so much trouble to find some guy who can pull this damn sword out of the sheath - for three whole years," he began, slowly. "He had to go against the law and against bad eggs like Orochimaru, and he never gave up... isn't going to give up anytime soon." He lowered his gaze to the floor. "I guess I could learn something from his goal-orientated persistence and stop being such a flop in everything I do..." The slight despondancy was quickly erased with a wide scowl. "Even /if/ he's always being such a bastard about it!"

Kakashi actually laughed. "Well said, Naruto," he pat the blond on his head. "I couldn't have said it better myself!"

Naruto just grinned up at the man. From one side, Iruka sighed into his palm.

"And when exactly do you intend to leave for the Palace?" He half-mumbled, knowing he was powerless to influence Naruto's decisions anymore. Not that he had been a very powerful influence up to now, anyway.

"Uumm..." Naruto had to ponder over this carefully. "...as soon as Sasuke gets well?"

"No." Iruka immediately voiced his disapproval. Naruto and Kakashi both glanced at him strangely, as if they did not understand his words, so he repeated, "No, you will not leave once Sasuke gets well. You leave tomorrow morning, before the sun rises." He gazed back into their eyes. "With or without Sasuke. Whether or not he is well."

It took both Naruto and Kakashi a while before the whole import of Iruka's words sank in. "What!" Naruto was the first to burst out loud. "But we can't possibly just leave him here by himself-"

"Naruto," Iruka sternly stated. "You're going to the Palace alone, if Sasuke doesn't wake up in time. Or if he's not well enough to travel."

Naruto's shoulders sagged slightly. "You're not coming along, sensei?"

"You're going there to stop the coronation, not for a picnic, Naruto," Iruka warned. "You don't need Kakashi-san or myself to be hanging around you."

"But-"

"Iruka-sensei is right," Kakashi waved a hand absently. "If you can't even make it to the Palace by your own strength, then how will you be able to stand against Orochimaru?"

This effectively sealed up whatever whine or complaint Naruto had upon his lips. He snapped his mouth shut and stared meaningfully at his two teachers, both of whom stared back solemnly. Without a change in his features he suddenly raised the hand holding the Sword again. "Special training until morning!" He declared, then broke into a dash out of the room before either sensei could say anything. Even when he was completely out of sight and sound, neither Iruka nor Kakashi turned to stare at each other, both having their eyes fixed firmly on the door Naruto had just exited from.

"...are you sure you're not going with him back to the Palace?" It was Kakashi, his voice unconvinced.

Iruka smiled wistfully, his hand reaching up to feel the necklace he wore through the fabric of his clothing. "He won't be a good ruler, if he can't even clear this little hurdle by himself..."

Next to the thoughtful Iruka, lying still on the bed; Sasuke suddenly frowned lightly, fingers twitching. As if in response to the conversation just held.

Or a nightmare, unseen by no one but himself.

————————————————————————
7/2/2005
tougenkyou . net / xd

prompted by evvy's review, i'm so sorry i didn't make it clearer from the start. there will be no pairings in this fic. absolutely zero. sorry if i kept any of your hopes up. i'm trying to build a strong friendship for naruto/sasuke, not romance, so if you're reading for romance, i'm really sorry because you won't find it here. :( thanks for sticking with me until this far though! and don't forget to vote for your favourite naruto fics at the naruto fanfiction awards!

finalknight . net / naruto / vote . html