This chapter is kind of small, but the next one will probably be longer.

Also, the poll will be closed soon, so please don't forget to vote if you haven't already.

As for the side story "Raven's Fall" the first chapter is also out. After discussing with a few reviewers I've decided to put both Naruto and Sasuke's POV on the fanfic, or else it would be too confusing. I hope you'll like it as well.

Well... enjoy the chapter.

The Discovery

発見 (Hakken)

July 22nd

Konohagakure

Umino Iruka considered himself a good teacher. He had a knack for teaching, loved children and, most importantly, had lots of patience.

Five of his students were drenched by the wall, staring at his feet. The classroom was not in better condition.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Iruka growled, causing the children to shrink against the wall, shaking. "What were you thinking? You were supposed to wash the classroom, not flood it with the garden hose!"

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei..." the children said in unison.

The classroom was ruined with the water. Iruka had to control his hand to not slap the hollow head of his students. After forcing them to clean up the mess they had made, he watched the children leave with their parents, who grumbled and promised harsh punishment.

Within a few years, those children would be ninjas willing to risk their lives to complete a mission and defend the village. Sighing wistfully, Iruka took leave of his fellow professors, and left the Academy.

It had always been so; the children could not be students forever. Iruka went through several of his former students while walking through the streets of the village, waving to them and stopping occasionally to chat. It was amazing how much they had changed.

"Have you changed too, Naruto?" Iruka thought, remembering his most problematic student.

It was ironic that the child who was most hated in the village had become its most beloved. Many villagers asked about the prankster ninja, remembering him with a smile.

Naruto had left Konoha five years ago and, since then, they only knew about him from what the Hokage told them he had written in his letters. Inside Iruka's head, he continued to see Naruto as a joyful and mischievous child who still had much to learn. How could he be almost 22 years old already?

Iruka had been very worried when he discovered that Naruto was gone. He volunteered to participate in the searches, but his students needed him to stay in the village. So he waited for any news with impatience, nervous that the search team would bring his dead body.

When Tsunade declared that Naruto had killed Sasuke, Iruka couldn't believe it. He could not imagine the suffering that it had caused Naruto.

"I wish I had been able to go to you" Iruka thought. "You must have been so depressed, Naruto."

The fact that Naruto had decided not to return to Konoha was also worrying. Iruka didn't like the idea of Naruto traveling the world alone without an adult to watch out for him. Naruto was just a kid! He felt like shouting at the Hokage when she forbade him to go to look for Naruto. Who knew what that youngster was doing? It was Naruto they were talking about! He need his friends and teachers more than ever after being forced to kill his best friend, there was no way he would could be left all alone.

Like the rest of Konoha, Iruka did not understand why Naruto didn't return home. He missed him. He missed taking him to lunch at Ichiraku Ramen, to speak to him and, more importantly, Iruka wanted to see with his own eyes if Naruto was safe and happy. In Konoha, there was always someone to keep an eye on him. Iruka didn't want to imagine the trouble Naruto would get in to, without someone to put some sense into his head.

"Oh! Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka turned around and saw Ino waving at him, dressed in her apron and with a watering can in one hand.

"Hello, Ino" Iruka greeted, approaching the former student. "Are you working?"

"I like the extra money," the young kunoichi replied. "I have not seen you for some time. How are things at the Academy? "

"Well. We will receive another generation of students soon. Time sure flies. It seems only yesterday that your generation had come to the Academy and look at you now! All grown up."

"Hehe! Just to think that it been ten years since we graduated" Ino said. "By the way ... Have you seen Sakura walking by?"

"Sakura? No, I haven't seen her. Why?"

Ino looked a little embarrassed and a wiped her wet hands on her apron.

"She looked a little down in the dumps in these last few days... A moment ago, she bought a large bouquet of flowers from our store."

"Flowers?"

"Tomorrow is... was Sasuke-kun's birthday."

Iruka nodded slowly, sympathetic.

"I see..." Iruka said. "It's hard for her, I guess."

"Yes... she bought the bouquet to put on his grave" Ino said. "I tried to cheer her up, but... maybe she would like to talk to you, sensei."

"I'll try. See you later, Ino. "

Iruka changed direction and headed for the old Uchiha compound. Passing through the ruins, Iruka couldn't help to pity Sasuke's cruel fate. That boy had so much talent... he still had so much to give... His life had been miserable. He could still recall with great clarity when he taught Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke was always the best in class while Naruto failed miserably the more basic jutsus.

The genius and the dead-last were placed together in the same team. Who knew that decision would change the shinobi world forever?

And, in the end, Sasuke was killed by Naruto.

When approaching the rock that was used as grave, Iruka immediately noticed Sakura's pink hair. The young woman was standing beside the grave, still holding the bouquet in her hands.

"Sakura?"

Sakura turned back, her eyes red and teary.

"I-Iruka-sensei..." the young ninja murmured, wiping her eyes.

"Ino told me you would be here and I decided to show up too" the sensei said, with a gentle smile. "I haven't come here for some time."

"I see..."

Iruka approached the grave and stood next to Sakura. Both knew that Sasuke was not buried in that grave. Sasuke's body did never appear after his fight against Naruto. Iruka would rather not imagine what had remained of his body after the battle.

"Tomorrow, he would turn twenty-two" Sakura said.

"I know. Time flies, it seems that only yesterday you were still students at the Academy. "

Sakura smiled sadly.

"We cannot be kids forever," the young ninja said. "Children grow and change..."

Iruka blinked has he saw tears running down her face.

"Sorry... sorry, sensei" Sakura said, wiping her tears. "I'm so stupid."

"Not at all, Sakura. You are anything but stupid. "

"I should have overcome this. Sasuke-kun left Konoha 9 years ago... and has been dead for five years. "

Iruka sighed deeply.

"It's always hard to accept the loss of someone who was precious to us," Iruka said. "My parents died long ago, but I still miss them. I'll always miss them. "

Sakura knelt and laid her bouquet on the floor.

"Sakura?" Iruka asked.

"Hm?"

"Why are you putting the flowers today? Would not it be better to place them tomorrow, the day of his birthday? "

Sakura got up slowly and stared at the rusty sword.

"Because Sasuke-kun would never accept a birthday present," the kunoichi explained with a weak smile. "He was not interested in that sort of thing."

"Ah... you're right. Sasuke had no interest in gifts or birthday parties. He was… more serious than most kids."

Since his clan had been massacred, Sasuke stopped being a child. He didn't play with other children, he never went to a party, and he isolated himself from everyone else, refusing to make friends or creating new bonds. The time that he had been with team 7 was the closest to a normal life he had, but the arrival of Orochimaru ended that. Sasuke also hadn't been a teenager and he never became an adult man.

Sasuke lived and died for revenge. He had spent 10 years of his life trying to make others pay for the happiness that had been stolen from him when he was 7. As a result, Sasuke didn't have a life of his own.

Sasuke didn't grow up as a person; he became a weapon of vengeance.

"Yeah…" Sakura nodded. "I can't believe how naïve I was back then. I thought I knew everything there was to know about Sasuke-kun, but the truth is I didn't know him at all. No wonder he despised me, I couldn't understand him."

"He had a very unhappy life..." Iruka murmured softly. "Sasuke had a lot of anger and sadness inside him. Revenge was the way he handled his pain."

"What about my pain? Naruto's pain? Kakashi-sensei's pain? Didn't they matter too?"

Sakura looked up. The green leaves of the tree branches came loose and were blown away by the breeze.

"Sasuke-kun... he was willing to do anything to get his revenge" Sakura said. "That was his life purpose and there was nothing we could say that would make him change his mind. I... we wanted him to be a part of our lives. There were so many things we wanted to do together... He was alive but he was not living. "

Iruka looked down while Sakura continued.

"We loved him… me, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei. But he didn't care about our love, or us. Something broke inside him the day his parents died... something that nobody could fix. The more I think of our past, the more I realize how Naruto and I were blind. Sasuke-kun never saw us as friends. "

"Sakura ... I'm sure that's not true."

"Yes it is, sensei. A true friend doesn't try to kill his other friends, a friend doesn't abandon friends or make them feel like trash" Sakura said, turning to Iruka with a sad smile. "He didn't care for us. Sasuke-kun was not our friend; I think he just wasn't able to be one. His heart was too broken."

Sakura turned and began walking the path, stopping shortly afterwards.

"It is time to move forward" Sakura said, with her back turned to her sensei. "Life goes on..." Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. "I cannot live if I'm always looking to the past. I have to stop thinking about what could have been and accept reality..."

"Sakura ..."

The medical ninja lowered her head.

"This is the last I come to the grave" she said. "I came to say goodbye."

Iruka closed his eyes and nodded slowly.

"I understand" the sensei said. "I hope Sasuke has gone to a better place."

"Me too," Sakura agreed. "I hope he found the peace he was looking for..."

Sakura turned to Iruka and smiled at him.

"See you around, Iruka-sensei!"

Sakura looked one last time at Sasuke's grave.

"Bye... Sasuke-kun."

To his great irritation, Iruka just remembered that he had to ask the Hokage for a new set of kunai for the Academy when he was at home, ready for a nap. With an annoyed grunt, Iruka got up, got dressed, grabbed the forms and walked out the door.

After jumping on several rooftops, the sensei stopped at the Hokage's mansion, noting that Shizune was attached to the jamb with Tonton in her arms, with a worried and afraid look. The usual.

"Good afternoon, Shizune-san," Iruka greeted.

"Oh! Iruka? "Shizune asked, turning.

"Buhi!" Tonton grunted.

"What are you doing out here?" Iruka asked curiously. "Hokage-sama is here?"

"No ... Tsunade-sama left half hour ago and forbade anyone to enter her office."

"Huh? Why?

"Because she just realized she'll turn 60 eleven days from now" Shizune said, looking tired. "So she did what she usually does when she feels old."

"She got drunk" they both said at the same time.

Shizune bowed her head in despair.

"I am very sorry, Shizune-san... The cabinet was in very bad shape?"

"I didn't have the courage to enter. I wanna imagine the mess... you would not believe the noise she made. I think she even threw a chair through the window! "

Iruka laughed and nodded.

"That is bad..." Iruka said. "I really needed to deliver these forms..."

Shizune looked at the sheets of paper.

"Well... you can leave them at the office. I need the courage to go there and peek anyway. "

Slow, and scared, Shizune opened the door and entered the mansion. Arriving at the office, Shizune gasped before having the courage to open the door.

"OH MY GOD!" Shizune screamed.

Tsunade had really thrown a chair through the window. She also had hundreds of documents scattered on the floor, the desk was upside down and paint spread on the walls.

"This is chaotic! A disaster!" Shizune cried, staring at the mess. "These documents are important and everything is scattered across the floor. My God! Some sheets are flying out the window! "

Iruka looked at the Hokage's attendant trying to fix everything at once with an embarrassed smile.

"Calm down, Shizune-san... it's not that bad."

"Bad? This sucks! "

"If you want, I can't help you" Iruka volunteered. "We both can clean this is a jiffy."

Shizune looked at him as if Iruka had metamorphosed into an angel fallen from heaven.

"Really? Oh, thank you! Many, many thanks!" the Hokage's attendant cried, landing Tonton on the ground and starting to pick up the sheets on the floor. "Would you turn the desk up, please?"

"Sure."

While Iruka took care of the desk, Shizune began gathering the papers and separate them by themes: missions, ninjutsu, biographies, information, etc... Later they had to organize everything better.

When Iruka turned the desk up, Shizune noticed a small white envelope had fallen from a drawer. With curiousity, Shizune grabbed it and, noticing that it had nothing written on, opened it to find out where she should put it. It shouldn't be anything too important, or Tsunade would not have kept it on her desktop...

"Oh! A blank envelope... Tsunade-sama should start labeling the documents... or else... wait… this is a…" when she started reading it, Shizune turned pale as a sheet. "Wha… What… What the heck?"

Iruka looked at her, confused and surprised by her shriek.

"Shizune-san? What is it?"

Shizune took her eyes from the document and stared at Iruka wide-eyed.

"Naruto-kun... he ..."

An alarm sounded in Iruka's head, making him jump over the desk to get closer to Shizune.

"Naruto? What's wrong with Naruto? That's about him?" the sensei asked stressed out, pointing to the paper in Shizune's wobbly hands. "What does it say? What's wrong?"

"This is... This is a test..." Shizune stuttered. "A paternity test..."

Iruka opened his eyes impossibly wide.

"A paternity test? About Naruto? " Iruka asked, very nervous.

"It's a paternity test between Naruto-kun and... and a child X."

Iruka felt his heart beating in his mouth.

"What?" Iruka shouted. "This is absurd! Naruto never... he's just a kid... Why would Tsunade-sama...? "

"Iruka!" Shizune interrupted, with a drop of sweat trickling down her forehead. "The paternity test is positive."

Iruka's face was left without a speck of blood.

"Po... Posi..." Iruka stammered.

"Oh my God! Naruto-kun is a father! This is unbelievable! He has a child!"

A child.

Naruto conceived a child.

Naruto's a father.

"What did he do while he was away? I just can't believ... Iruka?"

At that moment, Iruka rolled his eyes and fainted.

Oh my... poor Iruka. That must have been quite a shock. Keep in mind that Iruka hasn't seen Naruto since he was 16 years old.

As always, thanks for reading and feel free to review. I want to know what you guys think!

See ya!