Title: Change of Plan
Rating: PG-13
Summary: What if Naruto, rather than Sakura, had followed Sasuke that night? What if Sasuke had never left with the sound-nins? One small decision can send everything spiraling out of control. Most likely will contain various pairings, none of which have been established yet.
Notes: Huge, huge, huge thanks to Suukou! The two of us started a little bit of a story that we never finished, involving Naruto and Neji, and turns out, the general idea of it is perfect for part of this fic. Credit for most of the Neji-ness goes to her, though I've edited some parts mercilessly so they fit in here. Thanks to all of you reviewers who left positive comments, and uber-thanks to Gisela for the (gasp!) constructive criticism! =P There were a few errors when I was uploading the chapter, but it should be working fine now. If you read it before 2:45 PM Eastern Time on May 14, then you might want to look again.
Disclaimer: Oops. Kinda forgot this on the last chapter. But Naruto ain't mine, never will be. If it was... (cough) Please excuse the fangirly wishful thinking. However, I do own the concept of mental ramen. It's mine, all mine Er, just don't ask. On to the story.
Change of Plan
[ Chapter Two ] Reflections
"Who the hell would have guessed it?" Sasuke muttered bitterly to himself, glaring at the golden sunlight that poured in from his window.
The light reminded him of Naruto. And Naruto reminded him of last night. Last night, when he had been interrupted on his quest for power. Last night, when Itachi had outright ignored him to talk to that annoying...
Fox demon. Sasuke had to work hard to force his mind to grasp the concept. Naruto, so outgoing and cheerful, the host body to something so ruthless, so evil, and so strong that the fourth Hokage had to sacrifice his life to simply seal it away. The boy had a seemingly limitless power source to draw upon, while Sasuke was left with his hate and nothing more.
Hate and training, and more hatred, and more straining of the body until he could train no more.
They only call me the genius, the prodigy of the Uchiha clan because Itachi isn't around to claim that title anymore... he thought to himself.
What both bothered and puzzled him about the previous night was Itachi's offer to Naruto, and the boy's reaction to it. Of course the power of the Kyuubi was an amazing one. Whatever the older Uchiha's true intentions were, the offer was not for Naruto's sake. But the look on the blond's face made it seem as if he were actually considering the offer!
The interruptions from the previous night had caused a severe amount of heightened security around the village, as well as some not-so-secretive surveillance on both Naruto and Sasuke. If Itachi had come into contact with them before, perhaps he would do so again, was the reasoning. The two boys had only provided limited information about their encounter, acting upon some silent agreement to tell only what absolutely must be told without directly lieing.
Sasuke would have to be very creative with an escape plan, if he wished to find the sound-nins before they got tired of waiting for him. Surely they would have heard the news about Itachi, as well, and realized that's what was taking him so long?
Power could wait one week. He wanted to use the time he had to confront Naruto and ask him some questions.
Naruto slept late that morning. The night's events had kept him awake for a while, so he was simply catching up on some missed hours. He had done more thinking than he had done in a long time, playing and replaying what had happened as many times as he could.
He had seen a promise in Itachi's eyes. When flaming red met blue, there had been a spark of something there that told of acceptance of what he really was. Naruto felt wanted. Though he knew the man's motives could be anything but positive in the long run, the feeling was such a rare one that the blond wished that everyone was wrong -- that Itachi hadn't been the one to reduce the Uchiha clan to two members, that he wasn't such a bad person. Naruto knew such hopes were pointless and wishful thinking never got anything done in the end.
But it did mess you up beyond belief. His heart and head battled through the night, even as he slept. Going with Itachi would mean abandoning his companions -- who didn't know about his secret, so he could learn to tap into the Kyuubi -- so he could possibly become the pawn in some madman's plot -- but he would be powerful enough to stop said madman, maybe, if he managed to absorb enough of the man's teachings -- though the student is never as powerful as the teacher, who saves the best secret technique for himself -- but...!
And so on, and so forth, until he awoke. Needless to say, his dreams were troubled, and he awoke with both a splitting headache and a growling stomach. When in doubt, there truly was only one thing to do. Get some ramen.
With that thought, he dressed as quickly as possible and headed out, appearing carefree to the world. Concentrating on his hunger almost obsessively let him put up somewhat of a mask to prevent anyone from realizing that anything had ever happened. The wind hit him full-force in the face when he stepped out the door, tossing his hair around not-quite gently. He strolled down the street, trying to appear as casual as possible. He was almost certain he felt eyes on him, though whether they were friendly or not, he didn't dare to wonder.
That's right. Just picture the ramen. Hot and steaming, right there, just waiting...
White eyes narrowed as Neji approached the blond, still annoyed that he was pursuing this train of thought. Even after all of this time. He had finally decided to listen to the little urge within him to pry the information he sought out of Naruto. This... this idiotic boy had beat him, had stood in front of him and dared to lecture him about the way of the ninja. Created his own way, Neji remembered and his face turned colder as he stopped in front of Naruto. In lieu of a greeting, Neji said simply, emotionlessly, "The way you act... you shouldn't be as strong as you are."
So occupied was Naruto with his thoughts of ramen, which were wonderfully distracting him from the rest of the world, that it took him nearly a full minute to snap out of his reverie and realize that someone was talking to him...and then nearly another full minute to realize it was an insult. The blond spun around to face Neji, watching him not angrily, but a little confused. "What do you mean?"
Neji nearly let himself sigh. This was the idiot who had beat him. He still beat you, he reminded himself. "The way you act, Uzumaki Naruto, is not like the way most ninja act."
He put his hands in his pockets and looked calmly at the other shinobi.
"You're a drop out," he finished, the words hitting the air heavily as he showed his utter loss at this idea.
Naruto didn't mind being questioned so much as the way of the questioning and the manner of the questioner. If Neji was going to insult him, he'd fight fire with fire. A bit of immaturity, yes, but that was the way he was.
Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Drop out? If I'm a drop out, what does that make you? A loser who lost to a drop out?"
His body tensed at the words and Neji reminded himself why he was approaching Naruto in the first place.
"Unfortunately, it does," he replied coldly. "Uchiha Sasuke was who I'd been looking forward to fighting, not you. Then you... won."
The word was strained and he took a small step forward into Naruto. "I wanted to know if the reasons you gave for not giving up were true."
"If my reasons were true? Now you think I'm a liar, just because I don't fit your definitions of how everything should be?" Naruto demanded. "You wanted to fight Sasuke, but instead you got the loser, and now you want to know the big secret?"
Having his ideals questioned was one thing Naruto couldn't stand. Nobody seemed to notice all of the effort he put into his training. When someone finally did notice him, it was always negative attention. Except Itachi.
Don't start thinking that way again. That's why you have a headache. Itachi's messing with your mind, a little voice in the back of his mind reminded him. There's no use getting this mad at Neji for a few questions.
Neji glared down at the blond, startled. "Yes, actually. Though I don't think you're a liar."
He paused, figuring out what he was going to say and then continued in a warmer tone, trying to sound like he wasn't about to attack Naruto. Embarrassed that he didn't know how to be someone's... friend. "I don't understand why you're that way. Everyone was cold to you, hated you."
"They did," Naruto admitted freely, trying hard not to think of certain memories that fit such a description. "But that gives me more of a reason to prove to them wrong. If you judge someone that way, they'll make you eat your words."
Speaking of eating words, that mental-ramen was slowly losing steam... No, don't go! I need you...! The ramen winked out of Naruto's mind. Damnit.
It occured to the blond suddenly that they had been stopped this whole time. He had been distracted too well, it seemed, and that was preventing him from filling up his stomach, which growled in response to the thought.
Neji regarded Naruto carefully, interested in how he could be angry and volatile one minute and the next calmer and serious. Wanted to understand that badly, found himself wondering about the marks on his cheeks...
"Like you made me eat my words," Neji remarked, almost to himself, speaking a little louder when he noticed Naruto's expression change once more. "What's with the face?"
"Huh?" the blond responded to the question with one of his own before realizing that he must have displayed some outward sign of his thoughts. "It's nothing."
I'm sure he'll take me serious if I start talking about mental ramen... His thoughts dripped with sarcasm.
Neji nodded slowly. The boy was strange. "It didn't look like nothing," he remarked, wondering if he should just leave the other boy alone.
"It was! Really!" Naruto insisted. "Why are you so interested all of a sudden?"
"I told you why," he said, annoyed with himself. This had been an idiotic idea, and he felt like a fool. He hated feeling like a fool. Neji straightened himself and looked down at Naruto. "I apologize, I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing."
"...Wait," Naruto said, a strange gleam in his eyes. "It's all your fault. You owe me."
Shallow thoughts--pertaining to his favorite food, of course--were never disrupted at a more perfect moment. "You interrupted me on the way to get some ramen. Instead of wasting all this time talking, I could be eating right now!"
"I owe you?" He asked slowly. He'd only been talking to him for a couple of minutes, he couldn't have delayed him that badly.
Naruto did his best to overexaggerate his gestures as he explained, rather overenthusiastically, "Yes! You do! It takes three minutes of waiting, you know! And if I didn't stop to talk to you, I could be eating it now." Simple logic. Sorta.
He took a step back from the other ninja and regarded him carefully. How did the Uchiha do it? "I owe you for making you wait three minutes?" he repeated, confused.
"Yes. You owe me three minutes," Naruto continued his explanation stubbornly, as if he couldn't understand why on earth it wouldn't make sense.
The black-haired ninja nodded slowly. He still wanted answers, so he'd humor Naruto. "Fine. So... what do you want?"
The blond stared at Neji, unnaturally silent. His blue eyes were wide as he examined his fellow ninja's face for signs of jest before he gave his answer. "Haven't you been listening? Ramen."
Neji nodded again, staring at Naruto. "...Right."
About to make some smartass remark about how Neji was going to be spending time with a loser, Naruto thought the better of it. Insults meant more waiting, or (even worse) paying for his own ramen. Besides, eating with someone was not only more fun than eating alone, but it would also help him put up a temporary wall around thoughts of Itachi.
He grinned. "Your treat?"
"Okay," Neji agreed, knowing Naruto was trying to sucker him. He knew the other boy wasn't that well off, and besides how much could he eat? Neji wasn't hungry, but he'd be able to pick the other ninja's confusing brain for a little longer.
Still, I'm surprised he agreed... Naruto thought to himself. Unless there's really something he wants to ask that he's not telling me. This was pushed to the back of his mind for now, as the mental ramen was soon to be replaced by the real thing.
"Do you train much with Uchiha Sasuke?" Neji asked idly, trying to figure out exactly what the boy did with himself when he wasn't on missions.
The mention of the Uchiha name caused a sense of discomfort in Naruto, which he had thought he had been able to push back. It seemed that it was inevitable, and he'd be thinking about it up until the very moment Itachi came back. Six days never seemed so long to wait.
"Um, we used to for a while, but not as much lately..." Naruto mumbled. "Why?"
"Just wondering what you do," he replied, not thinking. Entranced by Naruto's face, it was so expressive.
Naruto turned away from Neji to cast a few stray looks around. They should be coming up to the ramen place soon, and he didn't want to miss it just because he was lost in a conversation. Besides, it was a good way to draw attention away from his face, which was quite an obvious mirror for the confusion within.
He still hadn't figured out what Sasuke was doing, where he planned on going. That worried him almost as much as Itachi's offer did.
They entered the ramen shop and sat down side by side at the bar, Neji slightly bothered because he wouldn't be able to see Naruto's face as well. He wondered why that should matter. "How is Kakashi-sensei as a leader?"
Since when did Neji get this talkative? Narutospun around to face the Hyuuga.
"Kakashi-sensei? He's..." Naruto trailed off. A pervert. "...really good. I learned a lot from him, y'know." Lesson one, read dirty books while teaching students.
"That's good, he's an impressive jounin." Neji commented, drumming his fingers on the bar lightly. Better than Gai-sensei who was, in Neji's opinion, over eager and a little frightening.
Naruto ordered his ramen and gave in to silence. What more was there to say?
Neji stared at the wall for a moment, trying to figure out what it was about Naruto that made him feel so off-balance.
"Did you really train with Jiraiya?" he asked, impressed.
He'd heard the rumors, naturally, but usually put no stock in such things. Still, having one of the Three training you... Naruto certainly was surprising. He felt like an idiot that all he could bring up was training but... what else was he supposed to talk about. That's all he did.
"Yeah," Naruto answered. And he's more of a pervert than Kakashi-sensei. However, he didn't feel the need to enlighten Neji with such a fact. He decided, instead, to turn the tables and ask the questions for once. "But what do you do with your time, huh?"
"I train," came the simply reply. Neji frowned at the table, wondering what it was about Naruto that had gotten him the best ninja's to train him. He felt a stab of hatred towards the Main Family, knowing that if he had been in Hinata's position, he'd be given the best as well. Felt the mark on his forehead burn, knowing it was just his imagination but still... he was collared.
There was silence again, as Naruto's wait was over and he began devouring the steaming mass of food in front of him. It was uncomfortable and unnatural. The quietness, not the ramen.
"Er..." he began, speaking for the simple reason of getting words into the air between them.
"Is it me that makes you so nervous or is it the silence?" Neji asked, amused.
A little of both, Naruto nearly admitted out loud. The blond stared back at his food for a moment before meeting the other's gaze. Blue eyes met that strange whiteness. They unnerved him nearly as much as Itachi's crimson glance had done. He was actually at a loss for words. "The...silence, yeah," he mumbled quickly.
Neji nearly smiled. He was lying, and something inside of him took pleasure in making Naruto fumble.
"You're the talkative one, remember?" he twisted in his chair and leaned back slightly, staring at the blond. "So your team is close, then? And Hinata..."
Neji winced and folded his arms over his chest. He wouldn't apologize for it.
"You wanted to fight me for her, then got your wish. And beat me. But you didn't rub it in." He paused, then added, "Why?"
"Why?" Naruto repeated, stalling time as he put actual thought behind his words. "I don't need to rub it in. For someone like you, knowing that you lost to me should be enough, and I know that you'll just keep training. So when you get stronger, we can have a rematch, okay?"
And if I go with Itachi, there will be no chance of that rematch. Naruto tried to tell himself in an attempt to sour the man's promise. He just couldn't ignore it, no matter how hard he tried.
Neji automatically darkened at the insult. When he got stronger? This... this orphan with absolutely no breeding... he stopped himself abruptly. Arrogance would get him nowhere.
"I will do that," he answered, proud that he sounded calmer than he was. Kept staring at the other boy, almost amazed. "And... thank you. For not rubbing it in."
Naruto still felt there was no need for the apology. It was his instinctive reaction to the situation, he never kicked anyone who was down. To do so would be hypocritical, wrong. "Uh, you're welcome," he went along with Neji, not wanting to argue.
Neji merely nodded in response, impressed by Naruto's sense of honor. Confused at how open Naruto was to everyone, despite what they'd done to him. "Your chakra... changed, Naruto. Why?" Decided as long as he was here he might as well ask the question that had been bothering him since they fought.
The blond nearly choked on his food. He regained his composure as quick as he could--though it was most likely not quickly enough to stop Neji from noticing such a reaction. I've never had to tell anyone about the Kyuubi before... Sasuke's the only other person who knows, and it's because of last night... It didn't take too long to realize that he was blabbering senselessly, even in his own mind. "It's...hard to explain..." Naruto began.
Neji was instantly curious as to what caused his distress, watched the emotions flit across Naruto's face. He really would make an awful spy. "I have time," he replied simply.
"Well, it's...there's..." Naruto looked around with what was akin to a sense of paranoia. "Kind-of a secret. Too many people here to tell you." That should delay him, at least for another few minutes...
"You don't have to tell me," he started, surprised that Naruto would tell him something personal. "I mean, if you're not comfortable with it."
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, not even caring that it was obvious. At least Neji wasn't pressing the issue, or even trying to find some way to mock him for refusing to tell. Proof that people in this world could change, given the right circumstances.
"I feel kinda stupid sitting here with an empty bowl when you didn't have anything to eat," Naruto remarked. "So if you order something for yourself, get me another, will ya?"
Neji ordered another bowl of ramen for Naruto, saying simply, "I'm not hungry."
The Hyuuga watched Naruto carefully, wondered if Sasuke knew about this chakra. Wondered about the softly spoken 'used to' in reply to his question about them training together and at himself for the... was it jealousy, lancing through him. The idea of it made him want to lash out at the smaller boy, so he asked, voice all silk, "Have you noticed Sasuke acting strange lately?"
There was no reason not to answer truthfully. This was Neji, not someone from another village, not an adult, someone his own age. And, if truth be told, it felt good to be confiding in someone. It was a luxury that Naruto did not have in the past, and he didn't think twice before answering, though he was careful with his reply.
"Yeah. I don't bring it up around him, 'cause then he just acts even weirder. He doesn't want to tell me what's going on. I think I almost got him to tell me once," Naruto paused, leaving out the phrase last night before continuing. "But then we were interrupted."
"Oh?" Neji wasn't sure if he should ask more, this seemed to be a touchy subject for the blond based on the expression he was doing a horrible job of masking.
"Yeah," Naruto responded, suddenly standing up. "I need to go... Don't feel good. Eat my ramen for me, will you?"
The white-eyed boy watched with surprise as Naruto abandoned his food, which was placed by his vacated seat only a moment later. Was he really sick, or was there something that he was keeping locked inside regarding the matter of the Uchiha?
Neji eyed the ramen. He was paying for it anyway, so he might as well pick at it, right?
Once out of the immediate area, Naruto took off at a run. Nobody took notice of this as an out-of-ordinary occurance. Kids will be kids, everyone said, and Naruto will be Naruto. He didn't care where he ran, so long as he was running. Just couldn't stand it, didn't think he would crack this easily. The breeze was strong, roaring in his ears as he cut through it like a dull knife. It was so loud that he couldn't hear the footsteps of one following him.
"Where are you going?" a voice asked from behind.
Naruto whirled around to see Sasuke staring, arms folded across his chest.
"Now you're the one running," the young Uchiha stated flatly.
"I'm not going anywhere," Naruto stated simply. "At least, I'm not leaving."
"You're not leaving?" Sasuke pressed. "Or you're not leaving yet? Don't tell me you didn't think about his offer."
When the blond was silent for a moment, he continued to speak.
"And was he serious about..." His voice lowered quite a bit, to nearly a whisper that the wind threatened to blow away. "...you being the host of the Kyuubi?"
---To. Be. Continued.
Extra Notes: Wow. Didn't think I'd ever finish this. But somehow, I did. goes into shock As I've said -- reviews are loved beyond love and all that. Hint, hint. They make me feel loved so I'll write more. ;) I hope you all enjoyed chapter two.