Do you guys hear that? It's my evil laughter at the thought of what's about to happen-something many of you have been waiting for is going down over the next few chapters, I do hope you enjoy! Or, y'know, don't want to murder me too much for the teensy weensy kind of cliffhanger, since y'all are gonna be dying to see what happens in the next chapter more than anything else if I know you guys well enough.
It was perhaps five minutes after Naruto started to eat her ramen that Kakashi burst into the house looking very worked up.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto frowned worriedly, "What's going on are you okay?"
"Is your mom here?"
"Uh, I think she was gonna see about getting more shifts at the hospital."
"Right." Kakashi ran his fingers through his hair, "I'll go there-"
"Wait! Kakashi-sensei what the hell's going on?" Naruto caught his arm, frowning slightly. "You look upset, you feel upset... and angry." there was anger there. A lot of it.
"Someone... they vandalized-"
"It wasn't me." Naruto said quickly before pausing, "Uh- you are you talking about the Hokage monument right?"
"No. No the memorial stone." and Naruto felt as if she'd been caught by Sakura's kick again.
Of course. Of course Kakashi-sensei would see it eventually, would see the way she'd brutally scratched out Obito's name in a fit of grief and rage.
Obito was the main person he went to speak to, he'd know the spot off by heart.
Fuck. Suddenly Naruto found herself unable to meet her sensei's gaze.
"Uh, the memorial stone?" she knew her voice was probably stiffer than she'd like, too obviously uncomfortable.
And of course Kakashi was one of the best Shinobi in Konoha, of course he'd notice the sudden shift.
His eyes narrowed. "Naruto-chan." he spoke carefully, voice tight, "Do you know something about this?"
"Why would you think that?"
"Because I know you." Kakashi shook his head, "Naruto-chan if you know anything you need to tell me."
"I don't." Naruto shook her head, trying to act as innocent as she could, "Why would I hide something about that? I mean I know how important the stone is to you."
If she'd been in a reasonable state of mind she'd have never done it.
"You're lying." Kakashi looked very unimpressed, "Naruto-chan."
"No I'm not."
"Okay then." Kakashi said slowly, "Let's go and get your mom."
"What?"
"Now."
"But Sakura and Sasuke-"
"Will be just fine here for now."
"They'll wonder where I went-"
"I'll leave a note."
"What's the point in going to mo-"
"Naruto-chan don't argue with me." Kakashi's voice was sharp and Naruto flinched, ducking her head.
"Yes Kakashi-sensei."
"Get me the notepad off the fridge."
She did as she was told reluctantly, and she watched Kakashi write out a quick note and stick it to the fridge with a magnet before the man grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the house, out of the compound and to the hospital.
She could probably break free of course but there wasn't much point she'd just have to deal with even more questioning.
Fuck what was she supposed to do? She couldn't tell them she couldn't?
Her spiraling panicking thoughts were interrupted when they reached the hospital and Kakashi quickly located Rin.
"Rin-chan." he called out quickly, waving her over with his free hand, "We have a situation, can you take a break or something?"
"Sure, I'm only helping, what's going on?" Rin's eyes flicked between Naruto and Kakashi. The blonde looked more uncomfortable than Rin had ever seen her and Kakashi looked... well he looked a mess.
"Just come with me a minute."
So he led Rin out of the hospital to the memorial stone, dragging Naruto with him, and he only released Naruto's arm when they reached the stone, and he pointed to the thick scratches through Obito's name.
Rin's breath caught in her throat and Naruto flinched at the waves of shock horror and pain that were rolling off of her mother.
"Who would do that?" Rin demanded, voice shaking, "Who.. Kakashi-"
"I found it like that." His voice was tight. "And when I told Naruto she reacted weirdly, couldn't meet my eye-
"Naruto-chan do you know something about this?" Rin's brows were furrowed, and Naruto looked away, heart pounding in her chest.
"I don't know anything."
"Honey, honey please look me in the eye-"
"No-"
"Honey what's going on, what are you hiding."
"I'm not hiding anything."
"Are you protecting someone?" Kakashi asked, "Naruto-chan whoever did this needs to be punished."
"I told you I dunno anything." Naruto lied desperately. Not that it was doing any good based on the looks her mom and Kakashi were giving her.
"Naruto-chan." Rin's expression was disappointed, and that hit harder than any amount of anger could, her mom had never looked at her like that before, "You need to tell us what's going on? Are you protecting someone? Did you see someone doing this do you not want them to get in trouble?"
"No." Naruto shook her head quickly, "Mom you know I wouldn't... I'm not-"
"What's going on then?" Rin's eyes were narrowed, her expression probing, she knew Naruto very well, and Naruto knew she'd never been able to lie to her mom.
"I..."
"Do you know what happened to the Memorial stone?"
Naruto swallowed hard, wishing she could get her tongue to move, wishing she could tell the lie as easily as she should be able to but the words wouldn't come.
"That's a yes then." Rin frowned, "But I believe you were telling the truth when you said you weren't trying to stop someone from getting into trouble. Naruto-chan you know how much the memorial means to Kakashi-kun. We need to know why someone would scratch out that name. You know how important he was-" and didn't that make Naruto want to snarl and scream.
It wasn't fair. It wasn't at all fair. They shouldn't care about that bastard they should hate him, but she knew that the truth would hurt them both so much and she didn't want to be the one to hurt them like that.
"Please." Kakashi's voice was so tired that it made Naruto's heart ache, "Naruto-chan whoever did this needs to be punished."
Naruto flinched slightly at that and Rin frowned.
"Honey..." her voice was hesitant, disbelieving, "Did... did you-"
Naruto stepped back quickly, wrapping her arms around herself, "Why would you think I did that?" but her voice was too defensive she knew and
Kakashi's mouth dropped open in shock.
"You... why would you do that you know what he did-"
"Yeah." The word slipped out before Naruto could stop herself, "Yeah I do." then she was flashing through the handsigns and she reappeared on top of the Hokage monument, flopping down on top of her fathers head, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, hiding her face in her knees as she groaned to herself.
She really hadn't been thinking when she'd done that, and she hadn't really considered the fact that Kakashi and her mom would notice sooner or later.
This was a total disaster.
She was sat there for over an hour before she heard footsteps and Naruto lifted her head, frowning when she saw that it was Jiraiya. "Ero Sennin?"
"Your mom asked me to find you." the old man moved closer and sat down next to her, "She and Kakashi-kun were pretty upset. They said you defaced the Memorial stone." there was no judgement in his tone, a fact that Naruto was grateful for.
"How did you find me."
"Karin wouldn't tell them where you were and Sasuke and Sakura backed her up, you have some loyal friends there. I told her I wouldn't tell your mom and Kakashi where you were. And that I wouldn't be mad at you." the man frowned, "You're pretty pale brat. You look upset."
"I... wasn't thinking." Naruto muttered the words, looking down again.
"Can I ask why you did it? It's not your usual funny harmless prank, you scratched out the name of a man who saved Kakashi-kun's life. You know your parents care about him."
"Yeah. I do." she hated it. She really wished they didn't care. Things would have been so much simpler if they didn't.
"Hm." Jiraiya wrapped an arm over Naruto's shoulder, letting the blonde girl lean into his side, "Y'know you can talk to me kid. If you tell me anything you don't want them to know I won't tell them."
"Really?"
"Of course brat."
"I..." Naruto hesitated, "I don't know."
"Maybe I should talk first." Jiraiya offered after a moment, rubbing her shoulder reassuringly. "Karin-chan didn't say much but she told me to ask about the Inauguration. She told us you weren't very well, should I guess that that wasn't true?"
"I..." Naruto hesitated for a long moment before speaking. "Karin-chan is a sensor-"
"I know, I avoid the hotsprings when she's nearby because she can sense me." Jiraiya said lightly, "It's a nightmare."
"She... on the day of the Inauguration she sensed..."
"Sense what?" Jiraiya's voice was gentle, "C'mon Naru-chan there's clearly something big that happened to upset you like this."
"She sensed the... she sensed the fake Madara-she was there when he hurt Kakashi-sensei-"
"I see." Jiraiya said the words slowly, his expression concerned, "And you went off to try and make sure he didn't hurt your friends-"
"He already went after Kakashi-sensei once and he'd shown an interest in the name Nohara."
"Of course." Jiraiya nodded, "I do understand Naruto-chan, anyone would want to protect their family, though I wish you'd at least told me and brought me with you."
"I was... it was a snap decision."
"I'm not angry with you, it's okay. So what happened kid?"
"I... I met him here." she looked around, "On the top of dads head. I asked him why he was here, told him I didn't want to fight. He uh.. he told me
he had questions I didn't answer last time-"
"About your last name." Jiraiya prompted, "You said he asked you about it repeatedly before right?"
"Yeah." Naruto let her knees drop, shifting so that she had them tucked under her. "He said that they had no right to give me her name. So-so I asked him if the her he was talking about was Nohara Rin."
"It was wasn't it?" Jiraiya predicted, his eyes narrowed.
"I asked why he was so obsessed and he said about her being the last Nohara... I asked why he was talking in the past sense, I told him she was alive and he got angry." she pressed a hand to her throat, remembering his too tight grip-if she was anyone else it might have left bruises.
"He hurt you?" Jiraiya asked worriedly.
"It... a little bit but it wasn't too bad. He told me he saw her die Ero Sennin."
"What?" Jiraiya's eyes widened, "But that's impossible... well I guess if he was one of the Kiri shinobi.. maybe one of them escaped the massa-"
"He was the one who killed them all." Naruto said softly, "I'm sure of it."
"Why?" Jiraiya's expression was slightly desperate-but she could see the glint of denial in his eyes, he already suspected the truth.
"He... it's why he hated Kakashi-sensei. Why he tried to kill him. He wasn't happy when I said he was alive... and he was even less happy when I said she jumped in front of the Chidori."
"I'll bet." Jiraiya muttered the words as Naruto continued.
"He kept calling me a liar. He was so angry he said about how Kakashi swore to protect her and how he killed her instead.. he was so angry and... and I knew. I just knew and I managed to surprise him and I shattered his mask. I saw who was beneath it Ero Sennin-"
"Uchiha Obito." Jiraiya's voice was tight, "That's why you scratched out the name isn't it Naruto-chan?"
"Yes." Naruto felt the tears coming, "I was so angry and he said dad failed them-"
"He was on his own mission." Jiraiya said quickly, "Minato never forgave himself for not being there but they weren't Genin anymore... He couldn't be there every day."
"I know. I know but he was so angry and he... I said about my mom and he said it was necessary." she spat out the word, "Necessary for his plans."
Jiraiya's arms tightened around her even more, and she was shaking she realized, that wasn't good.
"He... I asked what plans could be worth the lives he'd stole and he said I wouldn't understand and that I was a liar so I told him everything." Naruto admitted, "I told him all about mom, how she survived... he kept calling me a liar so I took him to the Inauguration to see... he... the emotions he felt were... and he reached out and I grabbed him and Hirashined us both back here and he was... he got angry at how close she was with Kakashi... I think he still thinks Kakashi killed her or something and then he just left."
"And you went to the memorial." Jiraiya finished. "And you crossed out his name."
"I felt so angry." Naruto shifted, pressing her face into Jiraiya's shoulder, and the man sighed, dragging her into a tight hug as Naruto started to sob softly. "He was their... my dad was-"
"I know." she could sense Jiraiya's pain and grief, the anger, but he was pushing it down as much as he could, rocking slightly to soothe the sobbing girl. "You should have told me right away Naru-chan. You shouldn't have had to deal with this knowledge on your own."
"I didn't want... it'll break mom and Kakashi-sensei."
"It will." Jiraiya admitted quietly, "But they need to know, for their own safety."
"I don't want to do it I can't do it-"
"I won't tell them if you don't want me to." Jiraiya stated gently, "I'm not breaking my promise brat... but they have a right to know, you know that."
"It'll hurt them so much."
"They'd want you to tell them." Jiraiya's rested his chin on top of Naruto's head, "They won't get mad at you. And it won't be your fault that they're suffering."
"I..." Naruto closed her eyes, "I just want this to be over."
"I know. And I'm sorry. It won't be over until they know the truth Naruto-chan."
"Ero Sennin?"
"Yeah?"
"Can we go home?"
"Yeah, yeah we can." Jiraiya's voice was soft, "Let's go home kid."
