Yu Yu Hakusho: Shinobi Files
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Naruto. Enjoy this chapter.
Umino Iruka stared blankly as a few people, some of the younger ninja, some others had come. Mostly villagers though.
'Hey, some kids who didn't pass the academy…' thought Naruto as he floated above the small house that was Iruka's. Surprisingly, it was far messier than his own. Then Naruto saw the academy students. He scowled when he saw what they were doing. 'What the… I'm dead and they're laughing?'
Naruto's eyebrows shot up when he saw a teammate of his friend Lee, TenTen, along with a somewhat teary Sakura and Ino, trying to calm down a sobbing Hinata, who Naruto had briefly gotten to know over a bowl of ramen he made her eat. He had dragged her to the ramen stand when he saw her wandering around alone and looking a bit hungry.
'Hinata…' Naruto was shocked. That was a teary face like Sakura, that was full blown sobbing.
"Naruto-kun!" screamed Hinata, louder than she had ever spoken in her life. "Why? Why…?"
Naruto stared at her and felt pain, in his chest. He glanced. It was where his heart was. Or should be, but did ghosts have hearts? His thoughts were interrupted by another voice.
"Naruto-kun…"
Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the next people who had come.
"Shizune-nee-chan…" murmured Naruto. "Tsunade-baa-chan…"
"Naruto you bastard!" yelled a drunken Tsunade. "You tell me all that crap about protecting people, and then you die on me!"
"T-Tsunade-sama…" stammered Shizune, attempting to pull the drunk woman back. "Please stop this…"
"NO!" yelled Tsunade, walking over to the casket. "You stupid, stupid child! I could have taken care of myself, but you just had to die, didn't you?"
"Tsunade-sama…" stammered Shizune, slightly more sternly than before.
"Why?" yelled Tsunade as tears streamed down her face. "I though I had found a little brother in you… Why…?"
Tsunade fell before the casket, visibly shaking with sobs, and Shizune said a quick prayer before pulling Tsunade away.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun…" whispered Shizune as she left.
'Don't thank me ya nut…' thought Naruto angrily, upset at seeing all of this occur. "I… I didn't do anything worth anyone's thanks!"
"Who were they?" asked one of the academy teachers. The Hokage had skipped doing an inauguration and instead voted for a funeral. He would be cremated in a few days, and his name would be added to the monument of those who died the day after. For his body's protection, it would be moved to Tsunade's office till then.
"Apparently, the demon used to hang around with them." Responded Hyuuga Hiashi. "The Hokage. Feh, she likes the demon. I don't see how the Council allowed anyone who thinks that scum is human to become Hokage. She's scum as well…"
"Of course…" growled the academy teacher darkly. "Their kind doesn't respect anything. Well, at least he died before he could influence anyone anymore. Maybe we can finally have a good town now…"
"Personally, I think he told Orochimaru where everyone was. Treacherous demon!" exclaimed a third man, walking over.
"More than likely…" agreed the academy teacher.
'Urgh… Those creeps are twisting things around…' growled Naruto mentally. He was surprised when two slightly wrinkled hands pulled back Hiashi and the teacher, the third man running being grabbed by a younger hand.
"Taking from what Tsunade-sama just did…" growled Kakashi menacingly. "And what you just said… Which was truly lacking in respect?"
'Kakashi-sensei… Ero-sennin…' Naruto stared at the two newcomers. They walked into the apartment and up to Iruka. They bowed, before going to Naruto's casket. A picture of him giving a silly grin and some candles sat above it.
"Naruto… When I heard what you did…" started Kakashi as Jiraiya finished his prayer and left. "I… Was proud. But… I feel guilty. I have no right to praise you. I was never your teacher, not really… Yet… Somehow I'm unable to praise you for saving the Hokage…"
Kakashi got up, made a vow to teach his remaining students equally from now on, and headed off.
Iruka still stared blankly at a wall.
"Naruto…" whispered Iruka, before his head fell in-between his legs. His body shook with stifled sobs. "Naruto…"
'Iruka-sensei…' thought Naruto sadly, staring at the man.
Naruto looked surprised when a mini-Hinata with longer hair walked up to his casket, and attempted to kick it, but stopped herself beforehand.
"I don't know you." said the girl plainly. "My name is Hyuuga Hanabi. I'm stronger than my sister, because she can't draw on her strength."
Hanabi clenched her fists.
"But whenever father would mention you, she would flare up. She'd beat me, easily, right till the end and become shy and weak again…" Hanabi looked at the ground. "She was happy when she watched you. She says your name in her sleep. Now she's going to get weaker and cry. I'll take care of her now, but so help me, if you come back to life, I'll kick your ass, wrap up your remains and give them to nee-chan."
Hanabi successfully tapped the casket with her foot.
"Jerk." Hanabi crossed her small arms and walked past her sobbing older sister. Only Naruto saw the small pat on the back Hanabi gave her sister. Only Naruto saw the single tear of sympathy fall from the girl's eye.
"Naruto-san!" yelled a voice. Naruto turned, surprised, to see none other than Rock Lee. "How could you die, Naruto-san?"
People stared, wide eyed at Lee. He was different today. But then again, due to his skills and odd looks, no one but Naruto had ever tried to befriend him. But his eyebrows were thinner today, and his hair was in a ponytail again.
"Get out of that coffin Naruto-san!" yelled the (also) slightly drunk Lee. "You told me, before you left, that though my self-challenges were a good idea, relying on youth was too much like relying on fate and destiny! You showed me the right path, and now you die! Come out and show all of us you live! I will have Tsunade-sama perform the surgery, just... Please come out!"
"Lee…" Maito Gai walked over and pulled his saddened student away from the wake.
"Heh heh…" laughed Naruto, touched nonetheless. "What a brain case. First 'youth this' 'youth that' and now he wants to raise the dead…"
"Mommy?" said a little boy that Naruto had played with once, along with Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon. The mother of the child turned to her son. "Why was that boy inside the box?"
The woman blinked. She was one of the few that understood the difference between Naruto and the Kyuubi. She understood, and guilt filled her to the core. She could have made him a little happy, she ran a dango stand. Her husband didn't care for the boy, and he ran a barbecue shop. She could have given him a meal every so often, a stick of dango…
"Was he sleeping?" asked the boy, smiling brightly.
"Y-Yes…" stammered the woman. "He was…"
"Kaa-san!" exclaimed the boy happily. "We should come back when he's out of the box!"
Naruto's eyes widened as he looked at the small boy and his mother. She was… Crying for him?
"That way I can thank him for bringing us the new Hokage-sama!" added the boy, hoping he would get to see the silly man again.
"We… Can't do that…" stammered the woman.
"Why?" asked the boy curiously.
"We just can't…" repeated the woman as she knelt down and embraced her son, tears falling silently from her eyes. "We can't…"
"How come?" asked the boy, though somewhat hesitantly since the subject seemed to be upsetting his mother.
"We can't just…" stammered the mother.
Naruto looked back at his wake. He saw the retreating form of Rock Lee. He saw Hyuuga Hinata, and the tears cascading uncontrollably down her face. Each tear sliced him inside. He wanted, even if only for a moment, so badly to walk over there and wipe those tears away. He didn't understand why. But he knew what he had to do…
"Hey… Botan…" Naruto nodded to himself and waited for a response.
"Speaking!" chirped the seemingly ever-happy spirit woman. "What's up?"
Naruto looked over Iruka's house and came to a decision, one that he could not change. He looked at the boy and his mother. He looked at Jiraiya. He looked at Kakashi, Sakura, and even Sasuke looked somewhat saddened. He looked at Lee. He looked at Hinata.
He knew what decision he would make now. A decision that he no longer wanted to change.
"I've decided…" Botan felt a smile tugging at her lips as Naruto shivered, despite being a ghost that was always at fair temperature. "…"
"Yes…?" said Botan, wondering if maybe she had been wrong. But now she was curious!
"I've decided to take this test of yours… But." Botan knew it wasn't time to celebrate yet.
"Yes…?" asked Botan. "'But' what?"
"Tell me where the bastard fox went." Commanded Naruto. "Where is Kyuubi?"
He hadn't thought about the fox much, mainly because in worry, he had fainted and woken up in time for his wake. He had decided, in true genius fashion, to worry about it later.
Botan laughed nervously.
"You see, the youkai that was sealed inside you…" stammered Botan. "The soul and most of it's power was lost between life and death, and was sent sixteen years into the past… But without a body if that calms you any bit…"
"Ah… Well, I can't do anything…" said Naruto. "So the fox shouldn't be able to either, right?"
Botan smiled and decided to tell him later.
"Right. Shall we go?"
"Whatever."
End Chapter 2
