Naruto looked at Ibiki-sensei and glanced at the door for a brief moment. He surmised that the adults were behind that door listening to the questioning process and bit his lip. There was something he didn't tell Iruka when he was recounting the tale of the morning of his parents' assassination. He was too overwhelmed by emotions to do it but now that he had calmed down, he needed to talk.
"Ano sa, Ibiki-ochan..." Kakashi's head shook fondly at the blond's habit of calling everybody older than him 'old man'. "There's something else I didn't tell you." Everyone stiffened at that information and subconsciously inched further to listen to the boy.
"Is that so? Then do tell." Ibiki prepared his audio and video recorder and notepad while Naruto waited. It only took a few seconds. When he was ready, the older man gestured for him to start talking.
"When I was in the juvie, grandma, Kakashi-nii and Iruka-sensei used to visit me frequently." The three's eyes that were mentioned swelled with shock that Naruto actually remembered them and didn't mention it. They were not sad that he didn't tell them anything, in fact they were happy that his memories were coming back little by little.
"Though I didn't talk to them because I thought they hated me. They suddenly stopped coming to visit and I got sad. I don't blame them though, they were busy after all."
Tsunade's scowl was as deep as the grand canyon. What was Naruto saying? She never stopped visiting! If anything he stopped accepting her visits...wait! The look on the others' faces told her that they were thinking alike.
"You mean somebody was stopping you from seeing him?!" Jiraiya voiced the thoughts of the majority there. While he was on hiatus for a long while, Tsunade kept him in touch with everything that happened to Naruto so he wasn't surprised by everything said except this particular one.
With Ibiki, Naruto kept on talking. He seemed to shrink into himself at the memory of what he was saying. "One day I was visited by the man that killed my parents." Sharp gasps filled the air for a brief moment.
"Did he do or say anything to you?" Ibiki questioned.
Naruto shook his head. "No. We just looked at each other. I didn't remember who he was so I had no reaction. After that I was transferred to another place. It was horrible there dattebayo." The teen finished. A loud crash jolted him a bit until it was followed by the frantic yells of the other adults for Tsunade to calm down.
Tsunade on the other hand was livid. Somebody murdered her son and daughter in law and had the audacity to frame her eleven year old grandson for it! Even going to the length of stopping her visitations and transferring him to ensure that his memory never came back. She punched the wall again.
When she finds out who it was, she would have fun torturing the person until he or she died a slow agonizing death. It was so obvious that this was an assassination.
After Naruto was dismissed the adults were called in for questioning one by one based on what Naruto said. Ibiki asked them if they knew anybody who had a bitter grudge or something like that against the late Minato and Kushina. Their answers varied for that one.
The private investigator then asked if anybody had been seen around them more frequently than they should be. Kakashi's immediate answer was Orochimaru. After a few rounds of questioning, Ibiki concluded his interrogation. He knew where to start his investigation from here.
Xxx melody xxX
Everybody that approached Sasuke to welcome him back to school stopped just meters shy of him at the smothering aura that emanated from his skin. Yes, he was back to school but he was completely unhappy about it.
Sakura, Ino and Karin were expectedly the first ones to notice him alighting from his car and ran to him with feigned concern etched on their faces. A glare froze them on their paths. Hypocrites. If he were any lesser person or less handsome or less rich they would not show half as much concern to him as they were doing now. They were all annoying.
"Teme, you're back!" He heard the obnoxiously loud voice of his blond (ex)friend before feeling his weight on him.
Sasuke instantly got pissed and ripped the other from him. "Don't touch me!" He hissed and stormed away.
Naruto was shocked frozen for a moment but it soon wore off. He never expected Sasuke to be this hostile but that was something he could easily fix by annoying him until he snapped.
"Oh boy, it's like Gaara part two is about to happen." Kiba, who was behind Naruto during the unfriendly exchange, commented.
"Very funny." Gaara said dryly as he came to stop next to Naruto.
"But it's true. You were like, 'don't touch me', 'don't touch me' back then. You still do it now." Kiba teased lightheartedly. He wanted to poke the redhead for laughs but Gaara still hated physical contact and he valued his hands, thank you very much.
"Something crawled up his ass and died dattebayo." Naruto's comment made his friends laugh, well as much of a laugh you could get from Gaara anyways, but he was being serious.
His tongue was already itching to use his powerful talk no jutsu to slap Sasuke awake from the pits of assholiness he had dug for himself but first he had to know what was actually wrong with his brooding friend.
When Naruto didn't see Sasuke during lunch he knew that the raven would be at the rooftop, if not, at a dance room to escape the crowd so he gobbled down his lunch quickly.
"You'd choke." Gaara mildly chided his friend. They always sat at the same table for lunch and sometimes the rest of their classmates joined them but most times it was two of them on a table.
"Gottha rwush-!" Naruto's full mouthed babbling was cut short by Gaara who shoved his spoon in the blond's mouth to stop food from flying everywhere. Naruto, used to his silent friend's antics, grinned sheepishly and gulped down the morsel in his mouth. "I gotta rush yanno." He repeated.
Gaara nodded, uncurious of where Naruto had to rush to and decided to ask for a change of spoons from the kitchen. By the time he came back Naruto had both eaten his food portion and fled. "I'd kill him later." The redhead mumbled bitterly as he had to get in a queue for another plate.
Meanwhile Naruto dashed through the halls despite the bold 'NO RUNNING' sign plastered at every single corner and ran up the ridiculously numerous stairs of KSA until he finally reached the door to the roof. He was about to bust inside with a loud 'teme!' when he felt the food he rushed crawling up his oesophagus.
Naruto slapped his hand over his mouth and took deep breaths to stop the nausea. Note to self; don't run after you just finished swallowing two dishes of lunch whole. The nausea spell thankfully disappeared with a few breathing exercises. A groan was on his lips when he opened the door to the bright place.
It stopped however when he saw the person he was looking for but with him was Kakashi-sensei. They seemed to be having a heart to heart discussion from the looks of it. Sasuke's bitter scowl from the morning remained on his face whereas Kakashi's face was hidden behind his mask.
Naruto didn't mean to eavesdrop but he couldn't help what he had already heard about Itachi-senpai. He just found himself glued to the spot as the two oblivious men continued discussing.
"Yo."
Sasuke sighed at the sound of Kakashi's lazy voice. He had come to this place to avoid talking to other people for a reason! Well, he supposed Kakashi was better than Naruto so he could endure whatever conversation he wanted to bring up.
"Go away." Sasuke's angry snarl would have worked if Kakashi was any lesser human being. But he wasn't so all he did was give an eye smile and sit next to the brooding Uchiha. Sasuke sighed. Well it was worth a shot.
"If you continue to scowl like that, the wind would change and your face would get stuck in that way." Kakashi drawled lazily yet his eyes were trained on Sasuke observantly. The boy scoffed at the ridiculous superstition but said nothing otherwise. "How are you?" He asked after a while.
Sasuke full on sneered at that question. "Oh my brother overdosed on aspirin to kill himself because of me and now he is in comatose for God knows how long. I am absolutely peachy, thanks for asking!" He snapped sarcastically. This was when Naruto walked in on them.
If Kakashi was surprised at the new information he didn't show it, opting to let Sasuke continue ranting with a carefully guarded expression. Sasuke did continue to vent uncharacteristically because he was the kind to keep to himself. Either he trusted Kakashi enough to tell him about Itachi's suicide attempt or he had finally reached the brink of his frustrations and snapped.
He sat and listened patiently through Sasuke's heartfelt talks of how he didn't know that there was as much pressure on Itachi as there was on him, how he regretted telling Itachi that he would be happy if he went away, how he should not have cut communication short with his brother, how he loathed his parents, everything. Kakashi listened through them all.
"I understand how you feel, Sasuke." Kakashi told him after he had calmed down.
"Do you?" The other griped.
"Maa, my father did the same thing so I do." Perhaps it was because it had been a long time, Kakashi was able to say it comfortably despite it being a touchy subject. Sasuke gasped a bit but fell silent. Kakashi took it as a cue to continue talking.
"But unlike me, you can still retrace your steps and be with Itachi again. My father actually succeeded in killing himself so till tomorrow I don't know why he did it. You have the chance to understand Itachi and he, you."
"Hn. He could die at any moment." Sasuke didn't sound as harsh as his words seemed. In fact he looked like he was barely holding himself from breaking down. Kakashi gave an eye smile and ruffled his hair which Sasuke was quick to slap his hand away. It caused Kakashi to chuckle.
"Nothing a little faith can't fix, right? Give Itachi some credit, he'd come back to you. This means that while you wait you have to remove the stick up your butt." Kakashi nudged him with his shoulder.
"Kakashi you might be my teacher but nothing stops me from pushing you off this roof." Said Sasuke dryly but he was quite relieved that the man was there to hear him out.
Naruto guessed that he didn't need to talk to Sasuke anymore since Kakashi had beat him to it. He was shocked that Itachi-senpai would do something like that. He considered the action selfish because his absence would do nothing to help Sasuke. It was also cowardice because he chose to leave instead of talking things out.
Well, Naruto supposed that Sasuke was also selfish and cowardly. He didn't try to talk to his brother too and felt like he was the only one suffering when the both of them were struggling equally. When Itachi did try to talk he just brushed the other one off. The two brothers really needed to talk.
Okay, maybe there was still something he wanted to say to Sasuke after all. But Naruto wisely decided against busting himself. Sasuke would toss him off the roof for eavesdropping, he knew. Well it wasn't as if Naruto was good at keeping secrets anyway. He would one time or the other slip up to Sasuke and get killed but he wanted to prolong his life.
The blond retreated to the cafeteria quietly but then he remembered that he ate Gaara's lunch and made a uturn at the last moment. That makes two people that would kill him the instant they catch him.
Xxx melody xxX
"SASUKE-TEME, OVER HERE!" Naruto's voice carried throughout the whole dining hall big as it was. It inevitably attracted attention both to him and the person he was calling to. Right now Sasuke was learning how not to be an antisocial jerk and Naruto was showing him the wheels.
It was the worst decision he had ever made, being the blond's best friend that is, but he was stuck with the dobe so if the dobe was being stupid, unfortunately he also had to be stupid by association. (AN: me and my friends all the time)
Sasuke, embarrassed, walked through the crowd of people and tables to the table Naruto was seated at with Gaara. Sometimes Sasuke wondered how the redhead put up with their blond best friend even. He sat once he reached there and acknowledged Gaara with a grunt. The guy nodded back.
"You two are weirdos dattebayo." Naruto commented before stuffing his mouth full with rice. He was about to start rambling about some random nonsense when Gaara hit him with a slap stick– yes he bought a slap stick specifically for Naruto and maybe Kiba– and chided him not to speak with his mouth full.
"That's a nice idea." Sasuke was referring to the slap stick. Hitting Naruto with his fists hurt him in return but with a stick...that was a really nice idea!
"Oya? Sasu-chan eating with the losers? What gives?" Haku teased as he came to sit beside said boy.
"Hey, we're right here!" Naruto yelled, offended.
"That's just how he speaks. Don't mind him too much." Sasuke explained that Haku had no regard for mincing words. Said boy just laughed and raised his hands in mock surrender.
"No offense to you guys." He laughed. Gaara ignored him in favour of eating while Naruto just blanched as if he saw a ghost. Haku blinked in confusion when he realised that Naruto was staring at him as if he grew another head. "What?" He asked unsurely.
"You're a b-boy?!" Naruto screamed dramatically. It had almost been a year since he and Haku were classmates and he was just knowing that he was a boy! Unbelievable!
"Hn, dobe." Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Girls wouldn't shower with us after gym class, Naruto." Gaara shook his head at his friend's dramatics.
"I'm offended, Naru-chan. We've been classmates for months!" Haku feigned being hurt. He got that kind of reaction a lot so he was used to it. It was fun seeing Naruto sputter in an attempt to change his pronouns in his head.
"You're prettier than Sakura." Naruto said after a while of thinking about how his whole life was a lie. How come he missed Haku in the showers anyway?!
"You're a big baka, dobe." Sasuke rolled his eyes for the one millionth time today.
-
Yamato-sensei's voice went through one ear and flew out the window through the other one for the majority of Class D. For others people like Shikamaru, Omoi and Tenten, the man's words didn't even reach their ears at all. Everyone was doing their own thing like looking at the beautiful white ceiling, doodling on their notes, making paper planes, finger wars, pen fights, et cetera, et cetera.
This was how the Dumb class looked like during maths, more like during every class that wasn't practical class. It would have continued had Judgement Day not come suddenly upon them in the form of the dreaded pop quiz.
It wasn't exactly a pop quiz. KSA always organize two tests before the midterms to ensure that the students actually understand what was taught. These tests are based on the works taught in previous terms and sometimes, grades, but of course nobody in class D was paying attention to anything being said on their orientation day and absolutely did not read the school handbook so the tests always came as a surprise to them.
The results of Yamato's sudden (not really) test were chewed pens and finger nails.
In the staffroom, said man reached into his drawer and took a bottle of paracetamol. Just one glance at the scripts and he could already feel an headache storming in his head. Was this an actual pie?! Yes it was if the 'apple pie' label was any indication. What was this?! It looked like a chicken tried to write! And this?! A blank page?! Yamato's head dropped on his table.
-
Iruka was fuming as he entered the class. Those children would cause his untimely death one day, he knew it. As if noticing his deadly aura, everyone went pin drop silent as the teacher calmly yet dangerously arranged what looked to be their test notes at the teacher's platform.
"I am very mad at you all, pissed even." Series of gulps broke the silence at the dark voice. It wasn't often that Iruka became mad at them despite his short temper so this new development was plain scary. "These tests are something you have done and aced before so I don't understand why you all performed woefully this time."
Iruka opened the first note in the stack on his table. "A question was asked. 'What would you get if you add iodine with starch?' The answer this person wrote is bread. Bread. BREAD!" Umino lost his shit and slammed the book closed. "Who the hell is this person?!"
Everyone wisely kept their mouths shut.
"Next question. 'Where did the waltz dance originate from?' This person had the gall to write CINDERELLA!" Iruka could not even comprehend what was going on in that person's brain at the moment. "What disease is often accompanied by the reddening of the eyes?' What the hell is a Sharingan?!"
Nobody dared to answer that it was an eye technique from a popular manga.
"I find it disturbing that you all did a little bit good at sex education but what is this?! Is this supposed to be human anatomy?!" Iruka raised a diagram of a badly drawn picture of the skeletal system. Not that the person was bad at drawing, this was just a plain lazy sketch of a skeleton wearing lingerie...at least that was what it looked like.
Iruka dug his fingers in his hair and tugged hard, causing everyone to wince.
"This apple pie was drawn instead of a pie chart and another person wrote the menu of a bakery down as a literal 'pie chart'." Iruka did the air quote fingers as he said that one which was rather weird on his angry face.
Everyone knew it was Choji, it was so obvious. They were not foolish enough to out him though. It was good that Iruka was too pissed to actually check their names because it would've been a disaster if he did.
Said man sighed as he slumped down on the teacher's seat. "You guys did so well in the last exams and I was really proud. Some of the questions in the tests were things you solved and aced in the previous ones. Does this mean you all cheated or did you actually forget?"
Of course nobody said anything.
"You guys are really...I don't know what to do with you. Use the rest of the period to do exercise 11 of your Language textbooks. I really don't want to see you right now." With that Iruka left the class glumly.
It took a while for the silence that came upon class D to be broken by Tamaki. "I don't like it when sensei is mad at us." She said and everyone had to agree. Naruto had it worse because he was practically Iruka's son. He, like the rest of the class, had not taken the tests seriously since they didn't amount to much. He felt like he disappointed his sensei and wanted to make it up.
"We could make it up to him dattebayo." Naruto voiced his opinion.
"How? The only way sensei would be happy with us is if we make it to the top 15 and none of us here have the brains for it." Karui bitterly commented.
"Actually all we need to do is not perform so ridiculously in our tests." Matsuri piped in. "I'm curious though, who wrote bread as the answer to that iodine and starch question?!"
"Doesn't iodine and starch make bread?!" Omoi asked profoundly and everyone shook their heads. At least now they knew who did that.
The classmates swore that they would study and listen to their tutors in order not to perform so miserably in any test again. But that was easier said than done, wasn't it?
Anticlimactic? No talk no jutsu?
In my defense this was not how I planned this chapter to go. I had wanted to make it like the last battle between Naruto and Sasuke in canon but the words kept coming and I kept writing so here we are!
Please favourite and review! See you in the next chapter.
-Star.