Chapter 3- Run to Fast and You'll Fall

Song: It's Easier to Run

Artist: Linkin Park

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. 'Nuff said.

"Sasuke, please come with me."

Sasuke looked up from his lunch at Iruka, slightly annoyed. He had just been resting, sitting on the grassy bank by the river after three days of a fruitless search for Naruto. What did his former sensei want? When he saw Iruka's pale face, however, he got up and followed him. His face and body language remained emotionless, but on the inside worry was gnawing at his stomach. After awhile he found himself at Iruka's apartment building. Walking into his sensei's home, he became perplexed to see Hinata, Rock Lee, Sakura, Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Ino, and all the others in the large livingroom/kitchen. They were all in different places, Shikamaru leaning, bored, on the countertops of the bar separating the two rooms while Chouji finished off a meat bun he had brought; Ino chatting amicably with Sakura, Tenten, and Hinata (who looked quite nervous, biting her nails); Kiba trying to get Neji, who was stretched out on the couch, to laugh and Rock Lee, who was standing with his hands on his hips, to stop laughing. Kakashi stood in the center of the livingroom next to three cardboard boxes, and Sasuke suddenly felt a dropping feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Alright, everyone, can I get your attention?" Kakashi said cheerfully. The teenagers became silent. "Since we're all finally here, I have something to tell you."

"Kakashi-sensei, hurry up!" Sakura whined. "Whatever it is, we were in the middle of a girls-only shopping spree!"

Kiba snorted. "Yeah, like any boy would want to go shopping anyway!"

"I agree. It's all just troublesome," Shikamaru commented, lazy eyes looked even more bored than usual.

"Shut up, Shikamaru!" Ino snapped.

Kakashi held up his hands. "Now now, calm down everyone. I assure you Sakura, you may not think this is very important, but it is. At least, I hope as his friends- or acquaintances- you would care."

"About what?" Sasuke asked, impatient.

Kakashi looked at them with a single, dead-serious eye. "As some of you might have noticed, Naruto has been absent from the village for the past couple of days." A few people nodded, and the jounin continued. "That's because he is missing, and might even be presumed dead."

Silence filled the house.

It's easier to run

Replacing this pain with something numb

It's so much easier to run

Than face all this pain here all alone

Kakashi opened a letter that was on top of one of the boxes. "He wrote this to Iruka, with details about what is inside the boxes. Ahem." He coughed twice, before starting to read. "'Dear Iruka-sensei, By the time you read this I'll be gone. Sorry I didn't tell you- you would've never let me go! I hope you understand that I had to leave. I'll never get the recognition of Konoha if I stay here. I have to travel some, learn some new techniques, meet people, you know, the usual. Tell everyone my secret- if I don't come back I want them to know. Don't start worrying! I promise I'll come back. Or at least, I'll try to. I'll do my hardest, okay? I always try my hardest at everything. Well, almost everything.

"'Please tell everyone that I'm gone. They'll understand that I need to get away. I feel as though something is draining me off all my energy here. I hope they won't hate me. I left a few notes and stuff for a couple of my friends in the boxes. Can you hand them out, since I can't?

"'Iruka-sensei, I'll really miss you. You're the only person-' oops, sorry," Kakashi sweatdropped, smiling. "It gets a bit emotional here. Um..." he scanned the paper. "No...no...why, that's just touching...Okay, here we go!" He turned the page over. "'-know I'll come back, but I still want them to know! Pleasepleasepleaseplease tell them, with ramen on top! Okay, okay, I'll give you cherries instead-'" Sasuke felt a smile tugging at his lips, and he saw Kiba grinning at Hinata, who giggled softly. "'I know they might hate me for it, but I hope they'll understand. It might take a long time, but I'll be back, so don't you go and die on me or anything! Next time you see me, I'm gonna be way stronger! See you around! The Soon-To-Be Great Uzumaki Naruto, future 6th Hokage of Konoha.'"

There was another break of silence, before Shikamaru spoke. "So," he asked in a drawling voice. "What's this big secret he's made so important?"

Kakashi scratched his head. "When Naruto was an infant the Fourth Hokage used him as a vessel to seal and contain the dreaded Kyuubi, the Ninetails demon kitsune. The Hokage wanted Naruto to be revered as a hero, but instead the villagers see him as the Kyuubi-reincarnate."

SMACK!

"Ow, Iruka, that hurt!" the silver haired jounin complained, rubbing his sore head.

"COULD YOU BE ANY GENTLER?!?" Iruka roared, furious.

The ninjas were in even deeper shock than before, as they suddenly remembered all the times the hyper blonde had been shunned, hurt, put-down, and even beaten up. The extreme hatred of the villagers was explained as well. They themselves felt sudden humiliation and embarrassment as they thought on the times that they had excluded Naruto. It wasn't even his fault! And still everyone had treated him like dirt. 'Has he ever once mentioned his father?' Sasuke thought. 'Or his mother? He never said a word about life for him other than complaining about his apartment now and then. Always helping people that hate him...' His heart felt a painful twang as he thought about Naruto's last words to him.

"I try to help you because I'm tired of people hurting me, and ignoring me."

"Don't you dare try to talk to me like you know me, you got that, bastard?"

He closed his eyes and rubbed his head. This was all too much at once.

Something has been taken

From deep inside of me

A secret I've kept locked away

No one can ever see

Wounds so deep they never show

They never go away

Like moving pictures in my head

For years and years they've played

"This is a stupid joke, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, almost pleading. "I-if he's the Kyuubi-"

"He's not the Kyuubi," Iruka said abruptly. "The Kyuubi is sealed inside him. And it's no joke, either."

"By trying to help and working harder, he was trying to make up for what the fox did to the villagers," Neji said slowly, and an even colder sense of reality washed over the young ninjas.

"He was trying to change what the Kyuubi did," Sasuke said aloud. "He was trying to help those people ease their pain, the ones whose lives were ruined by the fox. That's why he gave away his money, and made them meals, but never told them his name."

Ino scoffed, but her face was pale. "It's like Naruto thinks that it's his fault, too. He's such an idiot, taking all the blame for something he never did, never even asked for!"

If I could change I would

Take back the pain I would

Retrace every wrong move that I made I would

If I could

Stand up and take the blame I would

If I could take all the shame to the grave I would

"He grew up without any love," Iruka said quietly. "He's never even had a taste of what it's like to have parents. There was only one thing that stuck with him, as a child, living alone in a hostile world that would deny him even the right of living. Survival of the fittest- the strong live, the weak die."

"He started working when he was about seven," Kakashi added. "Cleaning dishes. Take out the trash. Degrading jobs, jobs no one else wanted." He looked out the window. "It was widely known that if you wanted a dirty job done cheap, you just have to find the 'Demon Boy'. That's what they called him. What they still call him."

Rock Lee thought back on a conversation that he had with Naruto, only awhile ago. "Hey, fuzzy eyebrows. Do you do things you regret?"

Lee smiled, and his teeth shined, momentarally blinding the blonde. "Of course I do! For not everyone is perfect, although I am close! Why do you ask this question, Naruto?"

Naruto just grinned. "Aw, I don't know. It's just..." his voice trailed off, and he looked in the other direction. "Sometimes I just want to stay where I am, in one place. That way I don't have to worry about making any more mistakes, or hurting anyone. If I don't have a future, I can't look at my past and regret things. Right?"

At this the strange boy could think of nothing to answer him. Naruto had a good point.

Rock Lee shook his head. He had never known that the ever-cheerful blonde had such deeper meanings to his words.

Sometimes I remember

The darkness of my past

Bringing back these memories

I wish I didn't have

Sometimes I think of letting go

And never looking back

And never moving forward so

There'd never be a past

"That dobe!" Kiba yelled, startling everyone. "What a prima donna, just running away. Whatta moron! He could've just asked one of us for help! Why'd he have to leave?"

"Apparently he thought he couldn't ask us for help," Neji said cooly. "After all, he offered help to us many times, whether it was obvious we needed help or not. What would make him think that we would help him when we refused to push away our pride for him to help us?"

"Yeah well...he never told us anything! How were we supposed to know or help him?!" The dog boy spluttered.

"That's exactly it," Shikamaru muttered. Kiba glared at him,so heraised his voice. "Naruto didn't want us to pity him. Being around us, the only people that didn't know about the Kyuubi, probably made him forget all about his life. At least for the moment."

Just washing it aside

All of the helplessness inside

Pretending I don't feel misplaced

Is so much simpler than shame

"I don't know what the big deal is," Shikamaru added, yawning. "This is all so troublesome. Uzumaki said he'd be back- so he'll be back. End of story."

Sasuke wanted to agree with the lazy chuunin, but the sinking feeling in his stomach increased. Naruto would be back. Right? He had to come back. 'Naruto is my rival, my comrade, my best friend,' the Uchiha heir realized. And there had been another emotion between the two- one that surfaced when Sasuke saved Naruto from Haku's needles;when Naruto stopped Sasuke from leaving the village; when the two were sparring, and Sasuke was so close he could see the sweat dripping down that slightly bronzed skin, and the way that Naruto's hair seemed to glow with a golden fire, andhow thosebewitching, electric blue eyes mesmerized Sasuke, holding him in his position as Naruto smiled his slightly feral grin, oblivious to how enchanting- Sasuke shook his head. How could he be thinking those kinds of things right now? How could he ever think of those things? Naruto was missing, and he was thinking about how deliciously alluring the boy was!

Sasuke's troubled thoughts were interrupted by a strange, unfamiliar voice coming through the window. "Iruka. Kakashi. I'm glad you're here." Lee, Neji, and Tenten's teacher, Gai, climbed through the window. His face was grave and solomn, and the horrible feeling in the pit of Sasuke's stomach increased. "I must talk to you two alone."

The dark haired boy glared at Gai. "If it's about Naruto," he said loudly, "I want to hear it as well."

The jounin looked over at Sasuke, raising one huge eyebrow. Taking a quick glance around the room as the others nodded or glared just as hard at Gai, he shrugged. "Alright. But this was not meant for you to hear," he warned them. "Tell no one about this." He turned back to Iruka and Kakashi. "ANBU spotted Naruto next to the canyon. He was taking off his headband, and putting those strange goggles of his. He put the hitai-ite next to his jacket, which was on the ground. We realized what he was going to do, and-" Here his voice faltered, and he ducked his head, handing Iruka a folded, bright orange jacket and a beat-up Konoha hitai-ite. "I'm sorry, Iruka. He's gone. ANBU walked out of the forest. He saw them. He- he grinned at them. And then jumped."

The sinking feeling suddenly froze Sasuke's entire body. His heart actually stopped for a moment. He didn't know how that was even possible, but all he knew was that it hurt, more than any physical pain could. It was a dull, throbbing pain, that grew into a sharp pang that stabbed him straight into his chest. Sasuke stumbled back a few steps and fell against a wall, wondering dimly if his legs were next to give out. Hinata gasped and covered her mouth, before turning to Kiba and pressing her face into his chest, sobbing. Shikamaru sat, stunned. Neji closed his eyes and looked away.

Sakura took one shaky step forward. "Y-you're lying!" she yelled, getting everyone's startled attention. "Naruto would never do that! He would never commit suicide, never! He swore that he was going to be future Hokage! He promised to come back!"

Iruka's face was hidden by shadows as he reached out slowly, to grasp the orange material. He brought it up to his chest and clutched it, tears now visibly coursing their way down his face. "Naruto..." he whispered. "Why? Why did you have to do this? You were- you were like a son to me. Why did you do this?" he repeated, closing his eyes and burying his head in the jacket, body shaking as he cried. Kakashi turned his head, but Sasuke saw the hurt in his eyes, and a damp spot on the mask under his slanted hitai-ite.

Sasukecouldn't believe it.

He didn't want to believe it.

He knew it.

Naruto.

His rival.

His best friend.

His Naruto.

Naruto was dead.

It's easier to run

Replacing this pain with something numb

It's so much easier to run

Than face all this pain here all alone