Sasuke Uchiha noted a change in his rival. It was subtle, not overly blatant, but he seemed colder. Naruto was always loud, rambunctious, but over the last two years he'd seem to have slowed down. Gone was the prankster that went wild, now replaced with an equally skilled prankster…who targeted. Naruto's first targeted prank was giving Iruka laxative filled tea, and somehow coating the difference in taste. Iruka didn't come out of the bathroom. Sasuke was for sure that he would be targeted, but none ever came his way. He'd forgotten Naruto's birthday that year, promising to come over and kick his ass for free. It was all light banter, their little way letting each other know that they thought of one another. Lately, however Naruto's skill in Taijutsu has significant grown. Sasuke always prevailed, still, but somehow, he didn't think it was an honest win each time.
Subtle shifts of a knee block, the slightly out of range punch. Kicks that packed power but didn't have the speed to match. It angered him a little, the mere idea that Naruto was holding back on him. Fighting just hard enough for anyone not bothering to pay attention to think he was going all out. It fooled Sasuke for a little while, first six months, but then he saw a fight between him and Kiba. Kiba didn't just get beaten, he got dominated, dominated to the point that Sasuke knew that Naruto was training with someone. He needed to figure out who, especially since he didn't want to be left behind by his friend!
Sasuke saw Naruto, and thought to himself, "For all his improvements in Taijutsu…he still sucks at Ninjutsu."
The eleven-year-old blonde in front of him was standing by tree. The swing swung in the air, the rope groaning. Sasuke walked over to Naruto, gesturing a greeting to his friend which the blonde reciprocated. Both of them stood together, leaning on the tree. Naruto watching as the leaves fell down, and Sasuke noting the pair of birds in a nest. Blue eggs glistened, and with it a new family of the avian persuasion would be taking over their tree. They watched as the other kids gathered round, and the girls gossiping, teachers griping.
"You're taking the exam in a week, again, right?" Sasuke inquired, looking at his friend.
Naruto nodded, and replied, "Yep…"
"Naruto, why are you not worried about it? Don't you even want to graduate," Sasuke gripes at him, eyeing his friend.
"Sasuke," Naruto sighs as he looked away from the clouds, "Can you meet somewhere tomorrow night?"
Sasuke nodded, eyeing him suspiciously, "Where?"
"No Sasuke, I need you to go, unnoticed." Naruto immediately corrected, noting that Sasuke planned on telling someone where he was going.
Sasuke frowns, looking into his friend's eyes, "Are you okay?"
"That's what I want to talk to you about," Naruto tells him as he watched swing creak. "I can't just keep it to myself, its bugging me, I feel like a dirty bastard for not even telling you."
Sasuke deadpanned, looking dead on at Naruto, "You're going to come out of the closet, aren't you?"
"What?!" Naruto yelped his face blood red, he pointed at Sasuke, "You only wished!"
Sasuke chuckles, putting his hands behind his head for comfort, "Works every time."
"Damn it," Naruto curses, and then grins much to his chagrin. "One of these days, you emo bastard, I'm gonna shove that joke down your throat."
Sasuke eyes, smirking, "Want to use better words than that, Naruto?"
Blushing mad again, Naruto settled on the good old middle finger. Sasuke laughed a little, knowing underneath the gloomy blonde's exterior as of late, his knucklehead of friend was still there. Parents came for their children, luckily, none of the girls came over to them. Last thing Naruto needed was to start swinging with a branch while Sasuke ran for the hills. He still had a branch selected from the tree, in case of emergency. The moment that annoying girl Ino, that loudmouth Sakura, or even any of the fifteen others came over here it'd be a slugfest.
Naruto sighed, "You know that girl, Hinata, I helped last winter? She is avoiding me, just like them."
"Damn it," Sasuke groans as he looked at Naruto, "I wonder why?"
Naruto bit his lip, "Sasuke, I need you to meet me before the graduation exam."
"Sure, where at, Ichiraku?" Sasuke inquired, looking at his long-time friend.
Naruto shook his head, meaning this was absolutely serious if Ramen was being turned down, "I can't exactly give you a map. I'm serious Sasuke, this is important."
The raven-haired youth watched as his friend held something out to him. A brochure, more specifically of The Hokage Monument. Getting the message, Sasuke nodded and stuffed the brochure in his pocket. Making sure no one saw them, he then looked back at his friend. He was focusing on someone, and it wasn't their fellow students. Rarely did he see Naruto in deep thought, but a glare was forming in those eyes, and whoever they were staring down wasn't noticing either.
"The Fireball Festival is right after, if you graduate, I'll teach you." Sasuke said to Naruto, making the blonde smile a little.
He watched as Sasuke walked away. Trusting his friend to meet him later, the blonde took a deep breath. He glared at a man Iruka was talking to, his white-haired head facing away from the blonde. Mizuki, one of the instructors in the academy. He watched as he talked to Iruka as if they were best friends still, and that fool bit off every bit of what Mizuki threw out. If only they could feel, only if they could see what he could now!
Various shades of colors all around him. The Nine Tail's one actual gift, a double-edged gift. For those laced in green were always thinking positive thoughts, blues were emotional, but Mizuki's violet-red aura was venomous. Naruto had little doubt if Iruka was alone with that bastard, Mizuki would slit his throat. Emotional sensing as the furball called it, and they carried scent with them. Mizuki smelled of a dead body, a monster in human form, sour and unpleasant.
"If you could get away with it, I'd say walk over there, use my power, and throw your hand through his chest." The Nine Tails mentally spoke to him.
Naruto replied back mentally, "You're giving me ideas, in one week, I may end up doing just that."
"That old monkey of a Hokage, as angry you are with him, I don't think anything bad from his end was a deliberate action. However, an old saying from my time is that "Every inaction is a reaction." If you choose to walk lightly, and wield no stick, you'll find yourself constantly pushed to choices you don't agree with." The Nine Tails told Naruto mentally.
"It doesn't fucking matter if he didn't mean for what happened! How can you just stand on the sidelines, knowing who my family really was, and let these people walk all over me?! I don't want to be called a hero, but I just want to stop being called a monster." Naruto mentally shot back as he watched Mizuki walk over to him.
"Hey there scamp," Mizuki stated to him while rubbing his hair. "So, are you still willing to do that special graduation assignment?"
Naruto bit back all of his hatred, smiling brightly, "Sure am Mizuki sensei! I can't wait to show that I'm worthy of being a Genin."
"Yeah, if you pass this, you'll have a leg up on your friend, Sasuke probably couldn't pull what I'm asking off!" Mizuki laughed, and then patted Naruto's shoulder. "Plus, you can learn one Jutsu out of the scroll."
Naruto faked his beaming, mentally he wanted to just rip Mizuki's throat out. The blonde smiled, watching as his sensei began to walk away. Only he did turn around, an eye closed, smile bright. That man did this whenever he thought anyone forgot anything. Naruto found it harder to not just slug him in the face.
Mizuki spoke out to him, "Did you forget where to meet me?"
"Of course, I didn't Mizuki sensei," Naruto says beamingly, and then rubbed his chin. "It's by the old hunter's cabin in the west woods, right?"
"You got it buddy; I'll see you there!" Mizuki said and walked away.
"You bet your life I'll see you see there, asshole." Naruto thought as he turned and began walking away.
One week came, and went, Sasuke was walking along the northern woods of the Hokage Monument. Naruto came from behind a tree, looking him dead in the eye. The stare seems to last a moment too long, but his features softened. Tomorrow would be the exam, and the blonde was out here in the woods. Typical Naruto, and Sasuke walked over to greet his rival, fist bumping him. Naruto's hand seemed bruised, judging by a wince the boy gave after the bump. His fists were wrapped in bandages.
"Yo, Sasuke, you come alone?" Naruto inquired.
Sasuke nods, "Of course I did. Do you take me for me some sort of idiot?"
"Good, because I am trusting you with everything." Naruto told him, the light in voice dying.
The Uchiha boy became aware of this, something cold ran down his spine. His best friend, briefly replaced with a cold, calculating monster. It was a brief moment, but in that moment, there was absolute distrust in the blonde's eyes. Something Naruto never did was distrust someone from the jump, but Sasuke saw it. It panged him, hurt him slightly, but the blonde motioned him to follow. The two walking slowly into the dark woods, with Naruto's holding a small torch out in front of him to light the way. Naruto didn't stop at a bend, and Sasuke knew he had been going this way for a while. There was no second judgement, his friend knew where he was taking him.
"Naruto, stop for a moment," Sasuke ordered his friend, something throwing him off this entire meeting.
Naruto looked at him, "Are you scared of me?"
"Of course, I'm not, Naruto. It's just that you've changed, and I've noticed it. Call it bullshit, or whatever, but you've been rigging yourself to lose our sparring matches. I didn't notice at first, but how does someone who is going toe to toe with someone suddenly miss a telegraphed jab to the face? You don't, and now before I walk any further down this way with you, you're going to tell me why you brought me here." Sasuke told Naruto, crossing his arms, "How can I be your friend if you're pushing me out?"
Naruto looked at him, but much to Sasuke's surprise he started crying, and that crying turned to sobbing. The blonde wiped his eyes, but instead of the blue irises he knew too well, they were red and foxlike. Sasuke instinctively moved back, grabbing the handle of a kunai. Naruto reached out to him, but then realized what happened, taking a deep breath to deactivate the Nine Tail's power in him.
"Sasuke, please, I'm sorry…" Naruto reached out to him. "I'm not a monster, I promise I'm not. I asked you here so I can tell you something I've only known for two years."
"Naruto, is that a bloodline limit?" Sasuke asked, perturbed at the appearance of the red eyes.
Wiping tears from his face, Naruto took another deep breath, "Not exactly…"
"Then what is it, because whatever it was…it made me want to run away." Sasuke honestly told him.
Nodding, Naruto took a deep breath, "I can't exactly explain it to you like this. I need you to follow me."
Sasuke sighed, shuddering a little, "I trust you."
"I know you do," Naruto replied with a sad smile.
He motioned for his best friend to follow him. Naruto kept leading the way, thunder started to sound over the area. He looked up after feeling a raindrop, he then sighed. Dropping the torch down, snuffing it out with a stump, the blonde felt the raindrops fall down around him. Sasuke kept following after he started back up, there wasn't a doubt in his mind now that the blonde was leading him somewhere, where only he could find in a hurry. He memorized any landmark, just in case, and finally they came upon marker stone. Naruto stopped, turning to him, and smiled.
"Sasuke, did you bring what I asked you on that brochure?" Naruto inquired.
Sasuke shakenly gets into his pocket, bringing out incense sticks, handing them to Naruto. The blonde shielded the tips, backtracking a little. He motioned for Sasuke to follow him, where they came upon a shrine. That shrine was a grave marker, but really there was no body there. He watches Naruto bend down on his knees, placing the sticks into a sand plate. He noted that a roughly built overhead of the shrine made sure no rain couldn't make the incense go out.
The raven-haired youth knelt down besides Naruto. Looking at the picture, it was of a woman with violet eyes, and a blonde-haired man that looked very similar to Naruto from a glance. He realized it was The Fourth Hokage, which made him take a doubletake. Naruto took a deep breath and had tears rolling down his eyes mixed with the rain.
"You know, Sasuke, when I first learned about my mother, I mistook her eye color. I thought it was dark blue, but I held the picture near a light back at home. She had violet eyes, beautiful eyes, Sasuke. Do you know who she is standing with?" Naruto inquired about what Sasuke took a doubletake on.
Sasuke wanted to say something, but only the noise leaving him was a flabbergast. The Uchiha heir took a deep breath, feeling absolute mixed emotions. On one hand he was angry, no furious, that Naruto didn't bring this to him sooner. However, in his mind, Sasuke knew that Naruto was hurting more than ever because of this. To keep this secret for two long years, not telling a soul. Sasuke always hearing how the blonde was a bastard, and that he was treated more of a foreigner than an actual member of Leaf society. Yet, here, Naruto was given praise to his parents. Sasuke didn't question it, somewhere in his heart he knew, and he knew those violet eyes. Perhaps all the way back as a babe he saw them. His mother always mentioned someone named, Kushina, in passing.
"What was her name?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto took a deep, shuddering breath, "Kushina Uzumaki."
"My mother knew her," Sasuke revealed as he thought about his mother mentioning that name.
The blonde nodded, looking at him, before saying. "I know, I found her journal here."
Sasuke got up, holding his head a little, walked around. He was frustrated, furious even, and then looked right at Naruto. His eyes filled with some hurt, but Naruto just sat there, watching Sasuke take in the information to process it. After a moment, the raven-haired youth sighed, sitting back down on his knees. Wet from the rain, both boys looked for words to continue the conversation.
Finding his first, Sasuke took a deep breath before speaking, "It doesn't make sense. You're the son of The Fourth Hokage, yet everyone hates you? I don't understand it, Naruto, and you seem to have known for only two years, why didn't Lord Third say anything to you?"
"I can't speak to why the Old Man lied to me," Naruto answered one of Sasuke's questions, "But for the hatred, I have a pretty good idea."
Naruto weaved a few hand seals, placing his hand on the ground. Sigils around the area lit up, the Kanji for "suppression" scrawled into nearby tree bark. The Uchiha heir was stunned because this was the sealing arts. Something that is an advanced level, a form of Jutsu specifically involved for sealing purposes. Chunin level, at bare minimum, because of its inherited complexity. He looked at Naruto, and then around the trees.
"I didn't make them," Naruto answered his unsaid question, "I discovered that they reacted with my chakra. The hand seals are activation, I accidentally discovered that last month, honestly."
"The Fourth Hokage was a renowned user of the sealing arts," Sasuke told Naruto, who smirked.
"Well duh," Naruto replied while crossing his arms with a smile, "Which is why I thought too. Believe it, or not, he wasn't the best."
Sasuke looked shocked, and then noted Naruto's smile, "You can't seriously be saying his wife was better."
"Oh, she was, it's all in her journal, she taught him most of the sealing Jutsu he used." Naruto pointed out, and reached into his pocket, handing him her book.
"Naruto, not to kill the parade, but earlier you said you have an idea why people hate you…" The Uchiha stopped the excited Uzumaki.
Naruto took a deep breath, "Because, Sasuke. I think there was a bigger lie that we got told as kids, maybe most of the adult Shinobi know. However, I'm pretty certain the Nine Tails isn't dead."
Sasuke took a moment, and collected himself with that, "Are you saying that its still alive?"
The blonde took his shirt off, exposing his belly, he focused charka into the area. A seal pattern appeared, using an eight trigrams pattern. The seal burned orange for a moment, but then subsided when Naruto stopped flowing chakra into the area. The blonde watched as Sasuke tried to figure out what he was getting at. Then it clicked, horrifyingly so, as Sasuke took a step back from him. The blonde reached out, but Sasuke took another step back.
Without a single word, and without much fanfare, Sasuke Uchiha took off!
Completely shocked, Naruto just stood there in the rain, and fell to his knees. He didn't even care that the rain was continuously falling around him. He just took a deep breath and walked back into his parent's storage cabin. It had some rough improvements on it, at least rain wasn't to get in. Settling in for the night, Naruto suddenly found a sob escaping his lips, followed by another. He then buried his head into his pillow, body racking between waves of sobbing.
A wail of pure anguish escaped his lips, barely muffled by the feathery pillow. Gathering himself, he just took a moment to relax. Finally, he decided to enact what he had planned. The blonde walked over to his parent's storage cupboards. Emptying them, he grabbed every book his hands could stuff into the pack. A scroll, possibly filled with techniques, and lastly his father's burnt coat. He draped it over him and looked at himself in a small mirror. Grabbing his parents' picture, he stuffed it into his frog wallet.
He went out of the cabin, and screamed, trying to make himself gather the courage! Finally finding his nerve, Naruto looked towards the north, and beelined into the forest. Running on all fours, leaping tree to tree, not slowing down as the winds whipped at his face. All the while, The Nine Tails continued to encourage him to push more chakra into his system!
Sasuke slammed the door open to The Third Hokage's office! He glared right into the old man's eyes, the man surprised by the sudden intrusion looked at Sasuke. The boy was panting, obviously having ran over to here from a large distance. He was soaking wet, but before Hiruzen could speak, Sasuke slammed a journal on his desk. Without needing to speak, ANBU closed his office door, putting noise cancellation seals into effect, and only then perfectly blending back into shadows.
The youth glared into the older man's eyes, "Well, are you going to say anything?! Anything, at all!"
"How did you come about this journal?" The Hokage asked, picking it up.
"Naruto, Naruto found it, and I hate you for all that its worth for it!" Sasuke yelled at the old man.
"Lord Hiruzen," One of The ANBU said, "Perhaps we should escort Sasuke to his compound until the morning."
"No, Snake," Hiruzen called off the female ANBU operative. "The young man has every right to be angry at me."
"So, you're not going to even try and deny it?! Why," Hiruzen didn't answer Sasuke making him scream. "Why would you ever do this to him, you old bastard?!"
"Sasuke," Hiruzen started but then realized something, "Where is Naruto?"
"He's back at this cabin in The Hokage Monument's forest. I saw it, but didn't go inside, why does it matter?" Sasuke bitterly inquired.
Hiruzen took a deep breath, dragging from his pipe, "I fear that time is of the essence my young friend."
"Snake, Dog, Bear, and Wolf!" Hiruzen called out, making four ANBU appear in named order.
"Yes, Lord Hokage, what is your order?" They all said in unison.
Hiruzen stood up, ordering them, "Find Naruto Uzumaki. Bring him to me, unharmed, no more than a few bruises if he resists. I don't want the boy harmed no further, because if what young Sasuke says is true…then you all know that he knows now."
The ANBU with the dog mask tensed at that, "Lord Hokage, what if Naruto Uzumaki uses the Nine Tails power?"
"You damn well suppress it!" Hiruzen ordered them, "If he comes to me, broken in anyway, I will gut you myself!"
All ANBU, even Sasuke, tensed up at the declaration. Without word, all the operatives moved out, quickly exiting a window. Sasuke knew then that Hiruzen knew where this cabin was, hell even the ANBU knew where it was. The old man got up, walking over to his war gear. He put it on, quickly, and looked at Sasuke Uchiha.
"Why were you with him, and why are you here now?" He asked.
Sasuke took a deep breath, shuddering, "He told me everything…and I was scared of him after he told what he was."
Hiruzen patted Sasuke's shoulder, "And this is why I didn't want it coming out this way. I need you to come with me, Sasuke. Because you owe your friend an apology for leaving in such a manner. Even if you are doing the right thing, here and now."
"Are you going to erase our memories, or something?" Sasuke inquired.
Hiruzen shook his head, "The Nine Tails wouldn't let me if I even tried on Naruto, so there's no point to doing it to you. Now, come on, we've got to go save him."
"Save him?" Sasuke asked, "But he's perfectly fine at the cabin."
"No Sasuke," Hiruzen grimly stated, "He isn't."
Sprinting fast, dodging over fallen woods, Naruto carried his backpack with both hands. He kept his body as narrow as he could manage. Bushes, trees, and clearings disappeared in flashes of lightning as he ran. The blonde's heart was fully, utterly, broke!
"To hell with all of them!" He mentally screamed out as he ran faster, and then he stopped in his tracks.
The blonde was looking at a massive river, he stood there, watching as the flooded river dragged debris into it. There was no way he could swim across, no way around it. The storm began to intensify more, and more. Roaring, he dashed to the east, following its path. There had to be a crossing point, eventually, and if there wasn't he was going to find a way!
Coming to a small clearing, Naruto found an old bridge. He walked toward it, noting that it was barely above the water. He stopped, hesitating, and then he heard whistling. Dodging out of the way, two shuriken cut the ropes off the bridge, making it tumble a short fall into the raging waters. Naruto stared at the thrower, a shinobi in a dog's mask!
"Naruto, stop right there!" Dog ordered as he landed in the clearing.
"Damn it, they acted faster than expected…" The Nine Tails growled in his head.
The blonde shot back, "Or what, are you going to just kill me?!"
Dog shook his head, pulling a cylinder out from his back pouch. A green flare shot up into the stormy sky, pretty soon it wouldn't just be the two of them. The other ANBU operatives would be coming. Naruto reached into his backpack, pulling out a kunai knife. He held it up in front of him, nervousness filling him, dread setting in. Dog moved toward him, hands out, but Naruto backed up.
"Please," Dog said to him, "You're hurt, and I understand that."
"You don't know a fucking thing about that!" Naruto screamed at him, backing up further.
"Naruto," Dog continued, "I get it more then you think. Please, lets just talk, Lord Hokage is on his way here now. Sasuke is with him. We know that you know now."
"Fuck that old bastard, fuck you, and fuck Sasuke!" Naruto snarled as he glared right into Dog's eyeholes in his mask.
Naruto took a deep breath, "Why did it have to come to this? I just wanted to be accepted by someone for what I really was. I didn't want this, I wanted to just have one friend that could just trust me with no strings attach! Do you have any idea how it feels?! How it feels to know that people stare at you, like some evil spirit?!"
"I am so tired of the staring! I'm so tired of you hypocrites! My father, I know the truth, why did he die sealing the Nine Tails in me?! I grew up thinking that something was wrong with me, and you know what there was! I am fucking vessel, I am a tool, and I am so tired of you bastards lying straight to my face!" Naruto screamed at Dog, who seemed soften his approach.
"You should let me take the wheel…I can kill them for you, so we can go." The Nine Tails said to Naruto mentally.
Naruto stood there, thinking about it, and then he started reaching toward his stomach. He stopped himself, and then felt a sob rock him. The blonde watched as the rain slowed to a downpour instead of a monsoon. Thunder roared over them, and then it happened, The Third Hokage landed in the clearing with his ANBU guard. The old man looked distraught, saddened, and Dog simply began to back away. Sasuke landed in the clearing as well.
"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled out, "What are you doing?!"
Naruto stayed silent, merely gripping the kunai tighter. The blonde looked at his friend, former friend, and didn't even conjure a fake smile. The single child stood in standoff with five of the Leaf's greatest shinobi, and their greatest leader. The boy took a moment, and then let the kunai drop form his hand. It sunk into the mud with an audible thump. He stood there, looking at the others, and then took his hand away from his stomach.
"What are you doing, brat?!" The Nine Tails roared.
"I think I finally figured out something too," Naruto mentally told the Nine Tails. "You wanted this."
"I will not deny that, but at least you know how they feel now. Do you think you just go home after this, live normally? No, they'll kill you, reseal me into someone else." The Nine Tails growled at Naruto, who just stood there.
"Naruto," Hiruzen called out, "Can we please just talk for a moment?"
"Alone…" Naruto replied with a breath.
Hiruzen nodded at his ANBU, they retreated back into the woods. Sasuke, reluctantly. followed. Both Naruto, and Hiruzen stared down one another. The symbol of The Fourth Hokage fluttering out from the jacket Naruto was wearing. Slowly, the child began to muster his courage to speak. He then looked right into Hiruzen's eyes.
"The Nine Tails told me that you're just going to kill me after this," Naruto told him as he looked up into the rain. "Would you really do that?"
"What, of course not, why would I kill the only reminder of my wife?!" Hiruzen told him as he looked at the blonde. "She was your midwife."
Naruto drew a blank, "What's a midwife?"
"Oh, its someone who helps delivery children," Hiruzen sighed as he looked at the boy. "She died, because The Nine Tails got free from your mother."
"You must really hate me," Naruto realized as he looked at Hiruzen with a sad smile. "Now I know why you didn't let me know who was."
"No, Naruto, that isn't it." Hiruzen firmly retorted as he looked into the azure eyes of the child. "Your father had a lot of enemies, if they knew about you, it would be a giant target on your back."
"My father is worshipped around the village, but that very same village condemns me!" Naruto yelled out as he glared at Hiruzen. "How many of you actually know?"
"All of my ANBU, a few others, and me, plus a few Jonin." Hiruzen honestly answered Naruto's question.
The blonde bit his lip, and thought, "Did Teuchi know too?"
"More than likely," The Third Hokage answers, "But that's because of how you look like your father, but act like your mother. If he did, he never said anything to me about it."
"I can't do it anymore," Naruto broken down as he looked at the old man, "I can't take anymore of their staring! Then Sasuke, I know you can hear me, why did you run away from me?!"
"To be fair to Sasuke," Hiruzen sighed, "You already thought he was going to act this way, didn't you?"
"So, what if I did?" Naruto questioned as he looked at Hiruzen, "You know how hard it is to even walk in my shoes?! I wish you could, for once, walk in my shoes for a day!"
"Naruto…" Hiruzen went to speak, but the blonde held his hand up.
Naruto took a deep breath, "I don't want to come back, the Leaf isn't my home…it never has been."
Hiruzen nodded, and looked into the boy's eyes, "Perhaps I can arrange something…given what is all come to light."
"You promise me, please promise me, I don't have to go back." Naruto begged as he looked desperate.
Hiruzen shook his head, "You have to, at least for a little bit."
Naruto nodded, and then took a deep breath, "Okay…I just want to hear your side of the story then. I want the reasons for everything, not bullshit, okay?"
"Okay, I promise," Hiruzen replied as he reached for the boy.
However, just before he reached him, the ground caved in under Naruto's feet. Everyone dashed forward, but it was too late. The waters claimed him, he disappeared as the raging river swept him away. Hiruzen stood there, horrorstruck, and watched as his ANBU ran the length of the raging river, trying to find him. The Hokage stood there, his hand still outstretched, and when it finally hit him, the old man scrunched his face up.
It had been years since Hiruzen cried, but hot tears escaped his eyes, mixing with the rain.