Chapter Eleven: Betrayal
"Aargh! Darn it!"
"K-Kiba?" Hinata questioned uncertainly after she thought she'd heard him slightly swear.
Sasuke and Sakura, who were also in the same room—the bedroom—as Hinata also heard Kiba. So they all went into the kitchen to Kiba.
There, they saw Kiba picking himself up, his face frustrated as Akamaru dashed back to Kiba and then leapt onto Kiba's head.
The food splattered not only all over the floor, but all over Kiba as well.
"W-what happened, Kiba?" Hinata asked.
"Naruto…" Kiba growled, in which Akamaru barked in agreement.
"N-Naruto?" Hinata repeated, surprised. "W-what does Naruto have to do with—?"
"I saw him!" Kiba interrupted with a livid near roar. "He was here!"
"B-but t-that's n-not possible…" Hinata responded in disbelief. "N-Naruto was with Iruka-sensei."
"But I know what I saw!!"
They both have a point, Sakura said to herself with concern. And that's what bothers me. They can't both be right…
Sasuke, who was ignoring the pointless argument, was meticulously searching the cluttered floor until he found what he was looking for.
Sakura, who suddenly noticed what Sasuke was doing, asked, "What are you looking for?"
"Kiba may be right," Sasuke said after he'd picked something from the floor and stood up.
And then he showed them a broken blue vial with slight traces of leftover black powder.
"Yeah! That's exactly what I saw Naruto holding onto just now!" Kiba exclaimed fervently. "If I'm correct, I'll bet he added whatever it was into those cups over there!" He pointed to the glasses on the counter. Six of them in all.
Hinata gasped in horror. No…it can't be…not Naruto…
Sasuke ran his fingers along the blue vial, and inspected the traces of black powder. "This must be the black powder Kakashi was talking about," he remarked. "The one that must have been added to the food and water yesterday." He then glanced at the glasses on the table. "Six glasses, eh? One for each of us…" He narrowed his eyes. "Kakashi, Gaara, and the four of us… If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was trying to mess with us again."
A moment of silence passed over the Genin before Sakura spoke up: "But then…where's Naruto now?"
"How could I forget? The little sneak disappeared on me the moment I tried tackling him," Kiba recalled, irritation present in his voice.
"Sounds like ninjutsu to me," Sasuke observed. But that's odd… I thought Naruto couldn't do his Shadow Clone Jutsu this morning…unless…
"Hold it!" Sakura blurted, as if reading Sasuke's mind. "How's that possible? I thought Naruto was affected, too!" She then stopped herself. "You don't think…that Naruto was faking it, do you?"
She glanced up at everyone. Kiba looked like he was ready to kill someone. Hinata just remained silent and looked to the floor. And Sasuke wore a scowl on his face.
"There's no way out of it," Sasuke declared in a low voice. "And now we know for sure…"
"No, we don't," Hinata objected, her tone assertive, for once. "Naruto was with Iruka-sensei."
Glaring at his traitorous teammate, Kiba snapped, "I KNOW WHAT I SAW!!"
"We can't really prove that until Iruka returns," Sasuke pointed out before he added, "For now, we can show this to Kakashi for confirmation."
"What's there to confirm?" Kiba questioned, annoyed. "I saw Naruto with that vial. And we know that Kakashi said it was the black powder that took away our ninjutsu."
"He said it wasn't certain," Hinata reminded her teammate, who was annoying her everytime he badmouthed her Naruto-kun.
"But—"
"Let's just ask Kakashi-sensei," Sakura firmly stated, weary of all the ongoing disputes, before heading out the door.
A few minutes later…
"He's not on the roof," Sakura disappointedly said after she and the rest of the group went onto the rooftop.
"But there's Gaara," Hinata said, gesturing to the redhead whose face was still stuck in the sand due to the heaviness of his gourd.
Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. "Not so high and mighty now, is he?"
"SHUT UP! I heard that!" Gaara barked through a muffled (yet still audible) grumble.
Sakura disregarded both of them and pointed out in the distance. "Hey! Isn't that Kakashi-sensei? And…" She narrowed her eyes. "Is that Ino and Shikamaru?! What are they doing?—"
Yet before Sakura could finish, Kiba had already taken off on all fours.
"Never mind that," Sasuke said curtly, "Let's just show Kakashi what we found." And then he took off toward Kiba.
Sakura nodded, trailing after Sasuke.
I guess I'd better follow them… Hinata decided, and was then about to run off, too. That is…until Gaara interrupted her.
"Hey, don't just leave me here! HELP ME UP RIGHT NOW!" Gaara demanded fiercely.
Hinata—now frightened by this sand creep—had no choice but to listen to him. "Um, y-yeah. Of course." She then grabbed onto his hand and pulled him up to his feet.
So now that that was taken care of, the Genin quickly caught up to Kakashi…except Gaara.
Of course, after his little "incident," Gaara didn't want to fall all over again, so he decided to take it slow…one small step at a time.
But everyone else had no time to wait for him, and Sasuke immediately began telling Kakashi of what they'd found. "This vial was dropped on the floor when—"
"HEY!"
Everyone turned around to see Gaara two blocks away. "YOU BETTER NOT BE SAYING ANYTHING WITHOUT ME! WHEN I GET MY NINJUTSU BACK, I'LL SAND-COFFIN ALL OF YOU! JUST YOU WAIT!"
Everyone stared at Gaara for a moment before Kakashi turned back to Sasuke and prodded him to continue. "As you were saying?"
"When Naruto was interrupted by Kiba."
They're ignoring me! Gaara scowled as he watched everyone converse, continuing on as if he wasn't a threat to them. I never was ignored!
Then, Gaara realized something… They never ignored me till I lost my abilities…
Guess I'm not so special anymore…
Meanwhile, as Gaara gradually strolled towards them, lost in his miserable thoughts, Kiba decided to take over the storytelling.
"Hey!" he began. "I was the one who saw it all, so I should be the one to tell all."
Sasuke glowered heatedly at the brash Kiba, but remained silent as Kiba took off from there.
"So, I was done getting the food and arrived at the apartment when I saw Naruto, with the vial in his hand. Being the quick-thinking guy I am, I tackled him. But, surprisingly, Naruto disappeared."
"Is that how you got the food all over you? By being 'the quick-thinking guy' you are?" Sasuke commented with a sneer, getting Kiba back from interrupting him through humiliation.
Kiba, immediately red-faced, hastily brushed any piece of food still on him.
Meanwhile, Sasuke finished off where Kiba left off. "Kiba probably meant 'surprisingly' because Naruto wasn't supposed to be able to do any ninjutsu, but he did. What's more, the vial held the black powder—the same black powder that Kakashi found earlier."
Saying this, Sasuke handed the shattered vial with the small bits of black powder to Kakashi.
He examined the powder. "There's no mistaking it," Kakashi stated firmly, "This is the exact same powder Iruka and I found in the kitchen earlier. But that's not all…"
"What?"
"When I was on the roof," Kakashi continued, "I saw Naruto running away from the apartment. I then glanced at the Ichiraku, and found that Naruto wasn't there, and yet…Iruka was—"
Hinata couldn't believe it. "M-maybe Naruto just had to excuse himself for a little while…" she offered timidly, trying to sound assertive, but rather more in an attempt to convince herself. After all, Naruto's being with Iruka was the last thread of hope she'd held onto in order to believe that Naruto was innocent, and now…she didn't know what to believe.
"What? To go contaminate our drinks all over again?" Sasuke coldly finished for her.
It was then Kakashi who spoke: "Look, I know you want to believe in Naruto—we all do—but…" He sighed. "…I think it's pretty clear."
Hinata bit her lower lip, trying desperately not to cry.
"…What's more is that I can confirm Naruto's use of ninjutsu…" Kakashi went on. "Shikamaru, Ino, and I all saw him disappear earlier."
Kiba nudged his teammate. "See? I told you I knew what I saw," he said triumphantly.
"Ha! I knew it was Naruto!" Ino suddenly blurted. "You guys shouldn't have doubted me from the start! I told you so!"
Shikamaru was through with Ino's bragging. "Okay. But so what if it's Naruto? Big deal. What are we gonna do now? If he's not with Iruka-sensei, we don't even know where he is!"
If I could use my summoning jutsu, finding Naruto would be easy… But I guess we'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way… "We'll split up and track him down," Kakashi decided.
Shikamaru sighed in irritation. "Ugh. I knew it'd come to this. Just what did I get myself into?"
"What? Why do we have to do this?!" Ino demanded. "Can't you guys just dispatch ANBU to hunt him down? Why do we have to get involved? He could be anywhere!"
"Did you forget?" Kiba began with an obvious hint of haughtiness, "With my super sharp nose, I can find Naruto even if he's more than a mile away."
Tired of Kiba's supercilious attitude, Ino dryly reminded him, "Oh yeah? Then what about the rest of us?"
"Don't ask me; I dunno. And besides, it's your problem. Figure it out yourself."
Backing Ino up, Shikamaru told Kiba, "Since we're going to work together, you might as well give a suggestion that we all can apply to ourselves."
"Hey, I'm not the genius here—I'll admit it. But you are, so you come up with something."
But coming up with something is such a drag, Shikamaru said to himself, sighing, and so turned to the other geniuses he knew of. "Sasuke? Kakashi-sensei? Any ideas?"
Before either of them could respond, Ino insisted, "Really, let's just get ANBU to do their job. Besides, now that we know what Naruto's capable of, how dangerous he is, ANBU can—"
"What did you say about Naruto?"
It was Iruka.
Ino decided to keep her mouth shut for once, and thus, allowed Kakashi to speak. "What we're saying is that we now have evidence stacked against Naruto…" he began, trying to lay it on as gently as possible.
Iruka didn't want to start on this again. "Okay. And what evidence could that be? I'm serious, Kakashi; I think you're jumping to conclusions."
"Still don't believe me? Well, that a look at this." Kakashi held out the shattered blue vial. "Remember the black powder we found in the kitchen earlier? This vial was filled with it, and traces of it are still all over it."
Iruka frowned. "And what's that got to do with Naruto?"
Kakashi glanced in Kiba's direction. "According to Kiba, this blue vial was in Naruto's hand. He tried to tackle Naruto, but then Naruto disappeared… Are you starting to get the picture? The only way Naruto could have disappeared is if he used some type of ninjutsu. I saw it myself."
Iruka backed away tentatively. "No. You're wrong about Naruto. He-he couldn't have…"
Kakashi sighed. "I know how you feel about Naruto, but regardless, would you say that Naruto was with you the whole time when you two were at the Ichiraku?"
Iruka just stared at Kakashi in horror. He couldn't argue with that, and he knew it, too. Naruto had excused himself, and had never returned. He hung his head in despair. "N-Naruto had excused himself from the Ichiraku. I waited for him to return, but he didn't. So I-I thought he'd gone back to his apartment, but…I guess not."
"I-Iruka-sensei, w-what are you saying?"
It was Naruto, and by the stunned, wounded expression on his face…
He heard enough of the conversation to know the direction that Iruka was heading.
Why did he have to come? Especially now… Hinata worriedly began to herself, panicking. Now that… when he hears that…
Hinata couldn't even bring herself to even think it. All she wanted was for her Naruto-kun to be as far away from here as possible, so that he wouldn't hear what he was going to hear next.
As nobody else was willing to speak, and as Naruto was looking at Iruka for answers, for some sort of hope, Iruka—even though it was the furthest thing he wanted to do at the moment—decided to answer Naruto.
"I-I'm s-saying," Iruka stuttered, knowing the very words he'd say would hurt Naruto more than anything else in the world, "That… I don't know what to believe in anymore."
Naruto gaped at his closest sensei, the closest person he had as a parent, his father figure, in devastation.
Iruka hurriedly turned his head away, the anguish written all over Naruto's face stabbing in his chest.
Grasping for some hope—any hope left, Naruto turned to Sakura. Maybe she'll believe me. She just gotta!
But as soon as he did, he knew that she couldn't.
She couldn't even face him!
Just like Iruka.
"Kakashi-sensei? Shikamaru? Sasuke?"
They too averted their eyes from him.
"…Hinata?"
Ohh, she so wanted to say something, anything, really, in desperation to cheer her poor Naruto-kun up. But his hurt-filled face and pain-stricken tone wounded her as well. What's more, as soon as Naruto had said her name, as soon as his eyes landed on hers…
She panicked, and—just like everyone else—rapidly turned her head in the other direction.
Naruto took Hinata's averting of her eyes as a sign: …Even she doesn't believe in me…
And Naruto didn't dare look to Ino and Kiba for belief, as he could feel the lethal glare from them.
Turning back to Iruka, Naruto recalled the conversation he had with his sensei…
"Why does everyone hate me?"
"Nobody hates you, Naruto. They're just mad that they'd lost their abilities, which are what makes them unique."
"Then why does everyone blame it on me?"
Even if the facts were stacked against me—which I know they are… why doesn't anyone believe me?"
"I believe you."
No matter what anyone says, I know that you're innocent, and I believe it when you say so. And do you know what else? A lot of other people think that, too, and that's why they're working so hard to clear your name."
Now, the memory left a bitter feeling in Naruto, and so he started to say to Iruka in a deathly quiet voice, "So… everything you said to me at the Ichiraku's… was a lie."
"N-no! That wasn't—!"
"Then why can't you believe in me?"
When Iruka was silent, Naruto turned to everyone else and asked a similar question: "Why can't any of you believe in me?"
When nobody could answer his question…
I'm not gonna take this. If they don't believe me, if they don't want me around, then I'm outta here.
To everyone, Naruto unexpectedly ran.
"Naruto—" Iruka began, making a movement towards Naruto, but someone grabbed onto his shoulder. Iruka turned to see who it was, and it was Kakashi, who shook his head in disagreement.
Iruka yanked his shoulder away from Kakashi in fury, yet went in the opposite way that Naruto had taken. He too was sullen, as he'd knew…
He'd failed Naruto.
Naruto… Hinata said to herself, as if beckoning to him, as if he could hear her thought, change his mind, and come back.
But as Hinata watched Naruto run until he'd disappeared from her view, she knew that he wouldn't come back.
That he might never come back.
Which were Naruto's thoughts exactly.
I'm never coming back here, ever again.
Iruka had turned against him.
Just like everyone else.
Everyone he wanted most to believe in him…
They couldn't.
How can I stay in a village that doesn't believe in me?
That was Naruto's final thoughts before his heart forever hardened.
And he ran as far away from Konoha as possible, not knowing where he was going, but not caring.
As anywhere would be better than the place in which he thought had cared for him.
Meanwhile, Gaara had finally caught up to everyone and—seeing their gloomy faces—asked, "What did I miss?"
A/N:
Craftygirl: Wow, Princess Malika. You've really outdone yourself (literally). While I'll admit you certainly did capture the mood in the last scene, it was REALLY long! You didn't even give me any chance to write after Iruka finally knew the truth! -- Oh well, at least I can still laugh at what happened to Gaara! After this fic, you'll never see your "Gaara-kun" the same way again! And stop with the "Naruto-kun!" So annoying!
As for all of you who feel sorry for Naruto, don't worry; the next chapter will definitely be more cheerful and funny as this day finally (and I mean finally) comes to a close!
Princess Malika: Are you sure Craftygirl? I thought we were going to do one more horrible thing to my poor, poor Naruto-kun… And writing that last scene was HEARTBREAKING for me! My heart and soul both cries out for him… TT Anyways, I DO NOT want to make fun of my Gaara-kun; it just turned up that way, and so now he's the comic relief in the story. But the next chapter will definitely be full of LOL moments (at least, I hope that's the direction we're going on), and it WON'T be due to my Gaara-kun. Plus, dear readers, PLEASE review! We LOVE them—live on them, almost. Whether with praise or constructive criticism, just PLEASE review! And SOMEONE needs to say "Naruto-kun", as everyone else thinks lesser of him.
