Okay... so it's only Monday night... I kinda couldn't wait... ^-^ I can't
believe how fast I'm going with this... I'm usually a chapter every so
often... not every day... the next will come out... Thursday or maybe
Wednesday if I get impatient again...
Oh, and as soon as I got this review, I knew I had to dedicate this chapter to Jiro. ^-^ You totally made my week with that comment. I know this is going to be a very long fic, and I will understand if people stop reading because it will take forever to get out... but all I did was take a whole bunch of little ideas I had for Naruto fics and combined them all into one continuous story. It took a while for me to figure out what should go when they were what age... but I organized it all. Oh, and so far I've written in five lemons for this story, SasuNaru of course... thought there are I think... two NaruSasu's in there as well (to make up for how long it took me to get the two together) and the story's got a long way to go yet.
Title: Jaded
Series: Naruto
Rating: PG-13 (Will go higher later on)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance, Humour, Horror, Tragedy, Supernatural, Fantasy, etc. (pretty much all)
Summary: For most of his life, Naruto has had one dream (becoming Hokage) and one love (Sakura), but as he grows up he realises not everything is as easy as he wants to believe it is, and his romances are not as simple as getting the girl, but finding a love that's not bound by superficial reasons, and that's when he realizes he had his priorities mixed up all along. (Eventually it'll be SasuNaru)
Pairings: (This is a list of EVERY possible pairing in this whole fic... cept the one's I forget) SasuNaru and NaruSasu (I like em both so they're both in it)... a little later on... SakuNaru, HinaNaru, OroNaru, GaaSasu (even if it's faked on both parts), KakaIru, LeeSaku, ano... JiOro, one- sided SakuSasu, ItaKisa, a little ShikaCho (but I'm willing to make it ShikaIno depending on who wants what... this is the one coupling that's not yet decided) and if someone shows any interest in them, HinaNeji (cause he needs to make it up to her)
Also there's a part where Naruto er... ... thinks about something Sasuke says and those pairings are NaruShino, NaruShika and NaruSasu but of course he nearly gags at the first two. ^-^
Chapter Title: 12. Battle Me
Naruto disappeared, but not before Iruka saw the look exchanged between the two. Naruto was questioning if Sasuke really did care about him enough to do the same, but he still did what he could to help. Orochimaru sent his guards after the boy immediately and the people who were left began to disperse back into the town, some still looking for Sasuke and the others running to their homes for cover.
"A reminder, Hidden Leaf!" Orochimaru yelled after them. "I'll only leave when I have Sasuke. You have no more fighters left. You have no other choice." He walked back into the Hokage tower to wait for word of Naruto's capture. Iruka and the others headed back to Sasuke's house, thankful that they had switched hideouts. Now that Naruto was being chased, he might go back to his house and they wouldn't be safe there. Iruka opened the door first to find a kunai embedded in the wood right beside his head.
"Ne, how about knocking, Iruka-san!" Shikamaru called bitterly. "We thought you were Orochimaru's shinobi." Iruka pulled out the knife and handed it back to the young chuunin.
"So what happened? While we were moving we heard a lot of chanting from the crowd but weren't close enough to make out the words." Tsunade exclaimed, pulling out a chair for the sensei. Iruka took it and buried his face in his hands. Sasuke and Kiba let go of their jutsu and walked over to the fire solemnly, while Hinata stood in the doorway, shivering.
"They want Sasuke." Iruka mumbled. Kakashi was surprised by the reaction they were getting from the shinobi who went to the gathering.
"No kidding." Shikamaru said lazily, twirling his kunai between his fingers. Sasuke shot him a glare.
"That's not it, baka." He snapped. "He said he'd get rid of Konoha's Kyuubi no Kitsune in return for me." Tsunade dropped the bowl she'd been sipping miso soup from and Sakura took a second before it clicked in her mind as well and gasped. The other younger shinobi looked at them confused.
"But wasn't the Kitsune sealed away?" Shikamaru spoke up. Kiba nodded, lowering his eyes to the floor.
"Hai, in Naruto-kun." He muttered.
"So Orochimaru will kill Naruto in exchange for Sasuke?" Neji asked, placing an arm around his cousin and leading her closer to the fire they'd made. All four of them nodded. Amazingly, everyone was taking it better than the elders had hoped.
"Naruto's been hated for the crimes of the fox by most of the villagers who know the circumstances of his birth." Tsunade explained.
"Hai, the chanting you heard," Sasuke added. "That was the whole village chanting 'Kill Naruto'." Everyone's eyebrows rose at this, Sakura's especially. She hadn't realized the extent of the village's hatred for Naruto. "He was there too. Naruto. He was tied up and gagged but he managed to escape by releasing a chakra pulse from the kitsune. Orochimaru's ninjas are after him." Tsunade nodded.
"Sasuke, I want you to go after him and find him before they do." Sasuke nodded in agreement, standing up.
"No!" Sakura yelled, standing in front of the door. She was slightly afraid of what she'd heard and didn't want Sasuke to risk his neck for the idiot. "He could get captured by those men!" Tsunade frowned at her. The pink- haired girl wasn't thinking things through when it came to Sasuke and Tsunade had noticed it now, too.
"Sakura, Sasuke can handle himself. I'm sure he can find Naruto easily and bring him back before any of Orochimaru's people can interfere. You don't have much faith in anyone, do you?"
"I'm just looking out for Sasuke-kun's safety." Sakura shook her head.
"Well, you don't have to. I'm not a child." Sasuke pushed past her and left his house.
***
The first place Sasuke checked was Naruto's apartment, thinking Naruto might have gone there first, thinking that's where everyone else still was. It was empty, like he had expected, but that didn't mean he couldn't find clues as to where the blond had disappeared to. He moved a couple of broken chairs and clothing, making his way to the boy's bedroom. Clothes and broken wood littered the floor and he nearly smirked when he found a small version of Kakashi beat up and lying in a corner. It was old and still had a few rusty kunai lodged in its stuffed head.
He began moving things out of his way until he came across an old photo of Team 7 from when they had been formed over three years ago. He ran his finger over the cracked glass, studying the features of the people in the picture. Naruto hadn't changed much in those few years. He was still shorter than Sakura, but not by much anymore. He let his eyes wander to the boy's eyes and noticed something he hadn't before. Even though Naruto looked almost as loud as he usually was, his eyes were slightly dull. He recognised the look from pictures of himself and that disconcerted him. It was only because he knew what to look for now, that he saw it. The village had done this to him for years, and it was only now that Sasuke became really aware of it.
A flood of anger overcame him at the thought of the village's treatment of Naruto and he threw the picture at the wall roughly. Nothing was what it should have been. He turned around, away from the mess that was the blond's room and, kicking another inanimate object from his path, left Naruto's apartment, heading to the forest. Maybe he did another full circle like he had the night Sasuke chased him because of the dreams. He sighed and took off across the rooftops.
***
He stopped beside a tree, seeing a flash of orange in the distance. He took a moment to catch his breath before walking slowly forward, aware of the possibility of it being an enemy trap. He eased forward and found that the orange blur had stopped at a tree beside a small pond. He quickly moved forward and found that it was indeed Naruto.
"Naruto." He called softly, recognising it was a clone, through his Sharingan eye, but allowing Naruto the satisfaction of believing he thought it was the real thing. "Please come back with me?" He asked, sitting down in the grass beside the clone. Upon hearing no response he continued. "This is the quietest I think you've ever been. Why do you all of a sudden care about the village's hatred of you? It's not like you did before." He looked up to see the clone pop out of existence.
"Battle me." Naruto demanded from behind him. Sasuke smirked and turned around.
"I was starting to wonder if the clone was defective." He smirked at Naruto's challenge. "I don't think you want to challenge me, Naruto-kun. It might end up with the same results as the last time we fought, with me sitting on top of you." Naruto ignored Sasuke's out of character humour and drew a kunai.
"Battle me, and if you win I'll go back with you." He said, his eyes narrowed, ready to fight. Sasuke hesitated before nodding and pulling out a kunai of his own.
"Your funeral." He muttered, receiving the boy's quick offence. Naruto wasn't acting crazy and out of control, like Sasuke had assumed he would, but instead dealt blow after blow, thinking his moves through in advance. He'd have a challenge to keep up without using his chakra or Sharingan to gain the upper hand.
Naruto began to notice Sasuke's upper hand in hand-to-hand combat and tried to move away, but only ended up getting himself pinned to the tree behind him by several of the other boy's sharply aimed kunai. He struggled for a few seconds but his clothes were held fast. He looked up as his rival slowly came towards him.
"You know, Sasuke-kun." He whispered. "I think I'm starting to realise just what everyone else thinks they see in you. Your great potential." Sasuke frowned for a moment but Naruto was far from being done. "The only difference is I see Sasuke's potential and they see an Uchiha's potential." Sasuke felt his cheeks redden at Naruto's praise. He didn't know exactly what had brought it on, but didn't say a word in fear that he'd come to his senses and take it all back.
"Ne, are we done here?" He asked backing away from the pinned boy, who nodded in response, but when he kicked out his feet in an effort to walk, he growled slightly at Sasuke.
"Hai, I'll keep my promise if you'll take out these stupid kunai, show- off." He muttered. His rival nodded and pulled out his knives.
"You have to honour your word, though." He reminded. The blond smiled and clapped a hand on Sasuke's shoulder.
"Of course, that's my 'Ninja Way'!" He began walking ahead.
"Oy, Dobe!" Sasuke called out. "Where are you going?" Naruto turned around confused for a second.
"To my apartment, of course."
"We moved to my house to avoid getting captured." Sasuke smirked, causing his friend to narrow his eyes.
"And you expected me to know that? I'm not a mind-reader!"
"Hai, demo maybe you should try it some time."
"TEME!!"
~~~~~~~
There is a very graphic scene that can be placed in either chapter 13 or 14, and I was just wondering if you guys want it or not. No details, however it may just be the thing that pushes this story into the R rating. It's not exactly needed, however if an overwhelming number of people ask me for it, I'll type it in somewhere.
Chapter Title: 13. Another Naruto Distraction
Naruto sat down on a chair beside the door and yawned tiredly, while Iruka peeked out the window beside him.
"They're patrolling again, but I don't think they're as concerned about Naruto as they are about getting Sasuke." He muttered. Jiraiya stood up suddenly.
"We need a plan right now!!" He yelled. "We need to get close enough to Orochimaru-kun to be able to kill him." He turned to Iruka. "His arms are still burned pretty badly, ne?" He asked. Iruka nodded after thinking about it for a couple of seconds. "Well then, we know how to get close to him. He can only switch bodies with someone who has the curse, and past that he can't do any jutsu so we have an advantage. All we need to think of is how to get close to him. Me and Naruto can take it from there." He looked over to the blond, but Naruto was peering through the blinds.
"We have a slight problem here." He muttered, shutting the blinds tightly and pressing himself up against the wall. "We have company." He added, which was followed by a loud knocking on the door.
WAHAHA! I know this isn't much of a cliff-hanger, but what do you expect? It wasn't much of a chapter either... not that my opinion matters much.
Oh and to whom ever this makes sense: 64 and counting...
Oh, and as soon as I got this review, I knew I had to dedicate this chapter to Jiro. ^-^ You totally made my week with that comment. I know this is going to be a very long fic, and I will understand if people stop reading because it will take forever to get out... but all I did was take a whole bunch of little ideas I had for Naruto fics and combined them all into one continuous story. It took a while for me to figure out what should go when they were what age... but I organized it all. Oh, and so far I've written in five lemons for this story, SasuNaru of course... thought there are I think... two NaruSasu's in there as well (to make up for how long it took me to get the two together) and the story's got a long way to go yet.
Title: Jaded
Series: Naruto
Rating: PG-13 (Will go higher later on)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Romance, Humour, Horror, Tragedy, Supernatural, Fantasy, etc. (pretty much all)
Summary: For most of his life, Naruto has had one dream (becoming Hokage) and one love (Sakura), but as he grows up he realises not everything is as easy as he wants to believe it is, and his romances are not as simple as getting the girl, but finding a love that's not bound by superficial reasons, and that's when he realizes he had his priorities mixed up all along. (Eventually it'll be SasuNaru)
Pairings: (This is a list of EVERY possible pairing in this whole fic... cept the one's I forget) SasuNaru and NaruSasu (I like em both so they're both in it)... a little later on... SakuNaru, HinaNaru, OroNaru, GaaSasu (even if it's faked on both parts), KakaIru, LeeSaku, ano... JiOro, one- sided SakuSasu, ItaKisa, a little ShikaCho (but I'm willing to make it ShikaIno depending on who wants what... this is the one coupling that's not yet decided) and if someone shows any interest in them, HinaNeji (cause he needs to make it up to her)
Also there's a part where Naruto er... ... thinks about something Sasuke says and those pairings are NaruShino, NaruShika and NaruSasu but of course he nearly gags at the first two. ^-^
Chapter Title: 12. Battle Me
Naruto disappeared, but not before Iruka saw the look exchanged between the two. Naruto was questioning if Sasuke really did care about him enough to do the same, but he still did what he could to help. Orochimaru sent his guards after the boy immediately and the people who were left began to disperse back into the town, some still looking for Sasuke and the others running to their homes for cover.
"A reminder, Hidden Leaf!" Orochimaru yelled after them. "I'll only leave when I have Sasuke. You have no more fighters left. You have no other choice." He walked back into the Hokage tower to wait for word of Naruto's capture. Iruka and the others headed back to Sasuke's house, thankful that they had switched hideouts. Now that Naruto was being chased, he might go back to his house and they wouldn't be safe there. Iruka opened the door first to find a kunai embedded in the wood right beside his head.
"Ne, how about knocking, Iruka-san!" Shikamaru called bitterly. "We thought you were Orochimaru's shinobi." Iruka pulled out the knife and handed it back to the young chuunin.
"So what happened? While we were moving we heard a lot of chanting from the crowd but weren't close enough to make out the words." Tsunade exclaimed, pulling out a chair for the sensei. Iruka took it and buried his face in his hands. Sasuke and Kiba let go of their jutsu and walked over to the fire solemnly, while Hinata stood in the doorway, shivering.
"They want Sasuke." Iruka mumbled. Kakashi was surprised by the reaction they were getting from the shinobi who went to the gathering.
"No kidding." Shikamaru said lazily, twirling his kunai between his fingers. Sasuke shot him a glare.
"That's not it, baka." He snapped. "He said he'd get rid of Konoha's Kyuubi no Kitsune in return for me." Tsunade dropped the bowl she'd been sipping miso soup from and Sakura took a second before it clicked in her mind as well and gasped. The other younger shinobi looked at them confused.
"But wasn't the Kitsune sealed away?" Shikamaru spoke up. Kiba nodded, lowering his eyes to the floor.
"Hai, in Naruto-kun." He muttered.
"So Orochimaru will kill Naruto in exchange for Sasuke?" Neji asked, placing an arm around his cousin and leading her closer to the fire they'd made. All four of them nodded. Amazingly, everyone was taking it better than the elders had hoped.
"Naruto's been hated for the crimes of the fox by most of the villagers who know the circumstances of his birth." Tsunade explained.
"Hai, the chanting you heard," Sasuke added. "That was the whole village chanting 'Kill Naruto'." Everyone's eyebrows rose at this, Sakura's especially. She hadn't realized the extent of the village's hatred for Naruto. "He was there too. Naruto. He was tied up and gagged but he managed to escape by releasing a chakra pulse from the kitsune. Orochimaru's ninjas are after him." Tsunade nodded.
"Sasuke, I want you to go after him and find him before they do." Sasuke nodded in agreement, standing up.
"No!" Sakura yelled, standing in front of the door. She was slightly afraid of what she'd heard and didn't want Sasuke to risk his neck for the idiot. "He could get captured by those men!" Tsunade frowned at her. The pink- haired girl wasn't thinking things through when it came to Sasuke and Tsunade had noticed it now, too.
"Sakura, Sasuke can handle himself. I'm sure he can find Naruto easily and bring him back before any of Orochimaru's people can interfere. You don't have much faith in anyone, do you?"
"I'm just looking out for Sasuke-kun's safety." Sakura shook her head.
"Well, you don't have to. I'm not a child." Sasuke pushed past her and left his house.
***
The first place Sasuke checked was Naruto's apartment, thinking Naruto might have gone there first, thinking that's where everyone else still was. It was empty, like he had expected, but that didn't mean he couldn't find clues as to where the blond had disappeared to. He moved a couple of broken chairs and clothing, making his way to the boy's bedroom. Clothes and broken wood littered the floor and he nearly smirked when he found a small version of Kakashi beat up and lying in a corner. It was old and still had a few rusty kunai lodged in its stuffed head.
He began moving things out of his way until he came across an old photo of Team 7 from when they had been formed over three years ago. He ran his finger over the cracked glass, studying the features of the people in the picture. Naruto hadn't changed much in those few years. He was still shorter than Sakura, but not by much anymore. He let his eyes wander to the boy's eyes and noticed something he hadn't before. Even though Naruto looked almost as loud as he usually was, his eyes were slightly dull. He recognised the look from pictures of himself and that disconcerted him. It was only because he knew what to look for now, that he saw it. The village had done this to him for years, and it was only now that Sasuke became really aware of it.
A flood of anger overcame him at the thought of the village's treatment of Naruto and he threw the picture at the wall roughly. Nothing was what it should have been. He turned around, away from the mess that was the blond's room and, kicking another inanimate object from his path, left Naruto's apartment, heading to the forest. Maybe he did another full circle like he had the night Sasuke chased him because of the dreams. He sighed and took off across the rooftops.
***
He stopped beside a tree, seeing a flash of orange in the distance. He took a moment to catch his breath before walking slowly forward, aware of the possibility of it being an enemy trap. He eased forward and found that the orange blur had stopped at a tree beside a small pond. He quickly moved forward and found that it was indeed Naruto.
"Naruto." He called softly, recognising it was a clone, through his Sharingan eye, but allowing Naruto the satisfaction of believing he thought it was the real thing. "Please come back with me?" He asked, sitting down in the grass beside the clone. Upon hearing no response he continued. "This is the quietest I think you've ever been. Why do you all of a sudden care about the village's hatred of you? It's not like you did before." He looked up to see the clone pop out of existence.
"Battle me." Naruto demanded from behind him. Sasuke smirked and turned around.
"I was starting to wonder if the clone was defective." He smirked at Naruto's challenge. "I don't think you want to challenge me, Naruto-kun. It might end up with the same results as the last time we fought, with me sitting on top of you." Naruto ignored Sasuke's out of character humour and drew a kunai.
"Battle me, and if you win I'll go back with you." He said, his eyes narrowed, ready to fight. Sasuke hesitated before nodding and pulling out a kunai of his own.
"Your funeral." He muttered, receiving the boy's quick offence. Naruto wasn't acting crazy and out of control, like Sasuke had assumed he would, but instead dealt blow after blow, thinking his moves through in advance. He'd have a challenge to keep up without using his chakra or Sharingan to gain the upper hand.
Naruto began to notice Sasuke's upper hand in hand-to-hand combat and tried to move away, but only ended up getting himself pinned to the tree behind him by several of the other boy's sharply aimed kunai. He struggled for a few seconds but his clothes were held fast. He looked up as his rival slowly came towards him.
"You know, Sasuke-kun." He whispered. "I think I'm starting to realise just what everyone else thinks they see in you. Your great potential." Sasuke frowned for a moment but Naruto was far from being done. "The only difference is I see Sasuke's potential and they see an Uchiha's potential." Sasuke felt his cheeks redden at Naruto's praise. He didn't know exactly what had brought it on, but didn't say a word in fear that he'd come to his senses and take it all back.
"Ne, are we done here?" He asked backing away from the pinned boy, who nodded in response, but when he kicked out his feet in an effort to walk, he growled slightly at Sasuke.
"Hai, I'll keep my promise if you'll take out these stupid kunai, show- off." He muttered. His rival nodded and pulled out his knives.
"You have to honour your word, though." He reminded. The blond smiled and clapped a hand on Sasuke's shoulder.
"Of course, that's my 'Ninja Way'!" He began walking ahead.
"Oy, Dobe!" Sasuke called out. "Where are you going?" Naruto turned around confused for a second.
"To my apartment, of course."
"We moved to my house to avoid getting captured." Sasuke smirked, causing his friend to narrow his eyes.
"And you expected me to know that? I'm not a mind-reader!"
"Hai, demo maybe you should try it some time."
"TEME!!"
~~~~~~~
There is a very graphic scene that can be placed in either chapter 13 or 14, and I was just wondering if you guys want it or not. No details, however it may just be the thing that pushes this story into the R rating. It's not exactly needed, however if an overwhelming number of people ask me for it, I'll type it in somewhere.
Chapter Title: 13. Another Naruto Distraction
Naruto sat down on a chair beside the door and yawned tiredly, while Iruka peeked out the window beside him.
"They're patrolling again, but I don't think they're as concerned about Naruto as they are about getting Sasuke." He muttered. Jiraiya stood up suddenly.
"We need a plan right now!!" He yelled. "We need to get close enough to Orochimaru-kun to be able to kill him." He turned to Iruka. "His arms are still burned pretty badly, ne?" He asked. Iruka nodded after thinking about it for a couple of seconds. "Well then, we know how to get close to him. He can only switch bodies with someone who has the curse, and past that he can't do any jutsu so we have an advantage. All we need to think of is how to get close to him. Me and Naruto can take it from there." He looked over to the blond, but Naruto was peering through the blinds.
"We have a slight problem here." He muttered, shutting the blinds tightly and pressing himself up against the wall. "We have company." He added, which was followed by a loud knocking on the door.
WAHAHA! I know this isn't much of a cliff-hanger, but what do you expect? It wasn't much of a chapter either... not that my opinion matters much.
Oh and to whom ever this makes sense: 64 and counting...