Sakura had been ecstatic upon hearing Sasuke, who personally went to the hospital to see her last night, said something along the lines of going out tomorrow morning, thinking she was finally invited by Sasuke out for a date. Well, turns out that it's only a wistful thinking, Sakura thought as she sat on a vacant seat in the table next to Sai at an average family restaurant. Aside from Sai, there were also Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino, who sat at Sai's right consecutively, and then next to Sakura was Hinata. Across from Chouji were Kiba with his partner Akamaru by his feet, followed by Shino to his right, and Lee. Apparently, Ten-ten and Neji did not arrive yet.
"So..." Shikamaru drawled. "Does anyone know why we're here? I need to go back home and give this-" he lifted a plastic bag that had fresh vegetables in it. "-to my mom, but Sasuke blocked my way and dragged me here so early..." he yawned and settled the plastic bag atop the table before placing his arms on it and buried his head in his arms. "This is so troublesome...I'm going to sleep."
Everyone in table only stared at Shikamaru in disbelief.
It did not take long for Neji and Ten-ten to arrived the moment Shikamaru took a short nap. The two newly arrived easily found the group they were supposed to sit with, and Ten-ten sat across from Sai while Neji was in between of his female teammate and Lee. And, once again they waited for Sasuke, who had invited them out, to appear.
Meanwhile, little Naruto was being carried by Sasuke, wrapping his small arms around the teen's neck tightly but not enough to choke, as the latter strode down the street, paying little heed to the citizens that were trying to make their way to the former. At first, Sasuke was baffled as to why Naruto had refused to use his wheelchair since he had no qualms before, but now it made sense to the raven haired teen. Naruto needed physical contact with someone he somehow trusted for comfort especially at the moment, because it was still hard for him to be around the strangers that used to looked down at him with cold eyes.
"Mr. Uchiha!" someone, a female, called from a distance and caught Sasuke's attention who then halted his story/28301161-my-new-moon-naruto-fan-fictionpace and looked over his shoulder to see a woman whom Kakashi was with before jogging to his way.
"Yes?" inquired Sasuke, turning around.
The woman stopped before the raven haired teen and hunched over, resting her palms on her buckled knees, as she panted. Once she had calmed down, she straightened up and looked at Sasuke firmly before she said, "The name's Yuniko." introducing herself.
"..." Sasuke contemplated on what to say. "...Is...there anything that I could help?" he asked, unsure.
"Actually...no-" Yuniko noticed the boy, Naruto, in Sasuke's arms securely whimpered when their eyes met and the said boy hid his face on Sasuke's crook. "-but, I think Naruto does."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes a little in confusion.
Jerking her head towards Naruto, Yuniko said, "Look at him." and Sasuke followed his eyes to her gesture. "I was walking back to my shop when I saw you two. And, I immediately noticed that Naruto feels anxious outside."
"I know." said Sasuke, looking at the woman straight in the eyes.
"Then, what're you doing?" Yuniko furrowed her brows as she hissed lowly so as not to alarm the boy.
"Taking him out to meet our peers and his friends. Isn't it bad?" Sasuke said laced with sarcasm.
Angered at the answer she received, Yuniko informed, "Well, are you aware that the boy is afraid of the crowd? I'm just concerned for the boy's well-being, so I'm telling you that it's not good for him to be out yet and confronted by his fear so soon."
"I'm aware of his condition, fully aware. And I'm doing this to help him face his fear and encourage him out. I promised to protect him from any form of harm while he's at this vulnerable state. Besides...who's fault was it that he became like this? I wonder how he grew up strong and a good person after the hatred YOU ALL HAVE DIRECTED TOWARDS HIM!?"
Yuniko, after hearing the last outburst of Sasuke, had her eyes wide open in shock as though the words were slapped on her face, and looked down in shame. The citizens that were closeby heard of it, and they, too, lately realized how hypocrite they were. It was a fact that long before the world seemed to be upside-down, they used to glare at young Naruto with so much coldness, hate, and malice because of the young lad being a human sacrifice to a tailed beast that had wrecked havoc in the village. However, one could look pass it and see the boy as a victim like the many, but then again, the mass was not smart enough to.
It was not after sixteen years of Naruto's existence that the people of Konoha finally saw him as a hero like he should be long before after defeating the Six Paths of Pain.
But, would they still worship Naruto had they known that it was because of him being a vessel to kyuubi that the village was attack? It was the question that had left most of the knowledgeable ninjas.
Fortunately, Naruto had shown enough to gain their acknowledgement.
Looking back, the crowd around Sasuke and Naruto agreed at what the former had said. They were hypocrites, and it would probably take more time to make little Naruto feel at ease around them than they had first thought and expected.
Sasuke observed the surrounding people, noting the look of remorse that graced their faces, and sighed before he turned his back to them and stalked off to the family restaurant. Naruto on the other hand remained stiff in Sasuke's arms. Changing a glance, the little boy rose his head a bit to peek and saw the villagers for the first time with clear mind. He could feel what the majority in the street was feeling at the moment; regrets, and Naruto did not understand why. However, somehow he felt like he knew the reason.