Yo! Btw...I don't know why this is my luck with computers but my NEW comp...my DELL comp...that I JUST got...yeah my brother (that stupid idiot!) somehow got a virus on it so I am probably updating this story at a library or something!
And if you guys have updated your stories but haven't gotten a review from me its because of that! And I will review for your stories as soon as I check my mail! Lol
BTW! I hope all of you are having a great summer!
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"Even if you were the last person on earth............oh wait then I would be dead!"
-quoteth K-chan once when she didn't make a point.
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Chapter seven: Lunch, Train, Promises.
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Naruto walked out of the bathroom after his shower wearing his original baggy pants that he had worn when he arrived at Konoha with his black tank top that went with them. He would have had to wear the robes too but they were destroyed with the house.
"Sasuke why do I have wear these? Don't they make me look like I am from some other country?" Naruto pouted as he finished tightening the pants around his waist with his favorite small blade that he carried with him everywhere.
"You seemed more comfortable in those than the regular cloths and I didn't want to have to deal with you acting like an idiot all tensed up." Sasuke sighed as he finished putting on his shirt; he had decided to take a shower before Naruto.
"Well I am still wearing the glasses." Naruto put them over his closed eyes and walked into the living room where Sakura had been waiting.
"Are you ready Naruto?" Sakura blushed as the blonde walked into the room. The blonde wearing those cloths not only made him look cuter but a lot more mysterious too.
"Yeah lets go." Naruto tried to smile as he found the doorknob and opened the door for the pink-haired girl.
Sasuke followed the two quickly shutting the door behind him. He did not want to know what was keeping Kakashi and Iruka so quiet.
Sakura watched as the two boys walked beside each other and noticed how different they were.
Sasuke walked with a frown on his face and kept looking straightforward but would glance over at Naruto every once in a while. While Naruto had a smile on his face even though he knew what he was getting into and he didn't seem to be paying that much attention to his surroundings but Sakura knew he was.........maybe that could be a question she could ask him later, how could he move around so freely?
Sasuke walked in a possessive manner beside the blonde haired boy while the other seemed carefree. One wearing dark plain cloths while the other extravagant foreign clothing. One had on Shinobi sandals with his weapon pouches fully loaded while the other had bathhouse shoes and only a small blade tied around his waist.
They seemed to contradict each other in everyway.
Sasuke looked over at Naruto. The blonde did seem a lot more relaxed in the heavier clothing. Sasuke had noticed from the time he saw Naruto walking with Iruka the day before that the blonde seemed a little tenser.
He knew that this was going to be difficult for Naruto so he thought that the blonde might do a little better under the pressure if he was more comfortable.
"Hey!" Naruto looked forward to see a green chakra now standing beside the pink one. They must have gotten to the restaurant already. He felt really nervous; any shinobi would if he was about to be interrogated about a weakness by his friends.
"How are you doing Naruto?" Lee smiled over at the blonde and Sasuke before opening the door for them. "Our table is in the back."
Naruto could feel his heart start to beat faster; the way Lee said 'our' made it sound like a lot of people were there.
Sasuke turned the corner to see Hinata whisper something to Shikamaru. He guessed that they were probably telling each other to act normal around Naruto, as far as he could tell that was what Sakura was telling Lee.
"Ohayo Naruto-kun." Hinata blushed as she began to fiddle her fingers.
The only people there were Hinata, Neji, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Lee and Sakura.
Naruto glanced at the different colors, two white, a dark gray, light green with millions of wholes in it almost making it look like there was no chakra, green, and then pink.
Only six people other than himself and Sasuke; he could do this, it wouldn't be so bad.
They sat quietly everyone watching Naruto as the blonde just concentrated his chakra on his surroundings.
"Che, just ask him already." Sasuke blurted out from his seat beside Naruto causing everyone to get a little flustered other than Neji and Shino. The Uchiha hated it when people stalled.
"Well I guess I will start then......" Naruto laughed nervously as he began to explain what he had already told Sasuke and Hokage.
"I only know who you are by your chakra and voice, the only other things I can see is whatever I put my own chakra on. Even then everything is orange but the texture is always different so I know what it is........What I don't put my chakra on I cannot see." Naruto started right at the point as he tried to explain.
"What happens if there is no chakra?" Sakura asked as she listened intently; this whole concept was strange and she had never heard of it before.
"Darkness." Naruto felt a shiver down his spine as he remembered the dream. He never wanted to go back to the darkness known as being blind. It was too horrible.
As he went on Naruto could tell whenever someone entered the store and slowly the areas around them were getting pretty full. He tried not to concentrate on them so hard and hoped that they wouldn't start moving.
"So where is Kiba and Ino anyway?" Naruto had gotten the conversation off of him and onto what they had been up to since he was gone.
"They are training for the jonin exams that are coming soon, that is why I was surprised to see you here too Sasuke." Lee smiled over to the Uchiha, "You probably don't need to train right?"
Sasuke just glanced at him for a moment but didn't answer; he had no idea why he wasn't training. He probably should train if not a little. But part of his mind felt so occupied by something he couldn't place yet that it seemed to not bother him that he wasn't training.
"Hey guys my aunt is calling me to help I think the lunch rush is here." Choji stood up and made his way through the crowds.
And that was when everyone noticed how full the place was, there were no empty seats and people standing up everywhere.
Naruto was surprised at first but then he noticed that he had been concentrating so hard on one thing that he didn't even notice all the movement around him. He was concerned with the seven people around him that he didn't notice the restaurant get full.
Naruto turned to tell Sasuke something only not to see but a small spot of the red chakra. Everyone's chakra had already started spinning together before Naruto could even try to concentrate again.
Was this how it was supposed to happen?
He stood up as the noises became louder but all he could see was the colors spinning making him lose his balance and run into something.
Sasuke watched as Naruto seemed calm for a moment before he stood up, his facial expression seemed confused and scared. Someone bumped into the blonde causing Naruto to slowly start to wonder into the loud crowds before Sasuke could grab him.
He knew Naruto was only looking for a way out but he had to help. He looked back at the table to see everyone else was going to go get Naruto out of the crowd too. He could use their help.
Naruto felt himself trip on his own feet before he caught himself. This was different than the times before. The room was so loud one moment but now it was eerily quiet he couldn't hear anything. He tried to move his mouth but found that his jaw wouldn't move.
What was going on? This has never happened before.
Naruto felt dizzy and sick as the sweat began to force his cloths to stick to his body and he kept bumping into things he could not see. The silence was horrible, he felt like he was floating into a spinning abyss with no way out.
Naruto tried to keep moving but realized his body had stopped itself and wouldn't start again. Something was wrong. Why couldn't he control his own body?
Then he felt like he was being pulled roughly bumping into what seemed like many things before he hit something cold and hard. It even felt wet.
Naruto gasped as he leaned his back against whatever it was, his body seemed to be getting colder and wet too. He couldn't tell what was going on.
Then red chakra flared up in front of him, it was so close almost like it was going to consume him like a fire.
"Naruto can you hear me?" Naruto heard Sasuke's voice; the colors seemed to stop immediately to the sound of Sasuke's words.
"Naruto?" Sasuke asked again, the look on Naruto's face was scaring him, not only were the blonde's eyes open and his sunglasses in Sasuke's hand as he had the blonde pinned against a brick wall in the ally behind the restaurant but his face looked dazed to the point Sasuke thought the blonde was going to fall over any moment.
"Sasu......" Naruto tried to move his mouth again, this was a new experience for him, the red chakra still over him protectively as Naruto finally noticed that what was making him wet was rain. When it started raining he had no clue.
"Can you here me?" Sasuke asked again as he watched Naruto's features change and the blonde closed his eyes.
"Yes......" Naruto whispered softly finally noticing that Sasuke had him pinned to the wall by his own body. "Thank you but um........." Naruto could fell his face warm up.
"Oh! Sorry." Sasuke mumbled under his breath as he quickly jumped off of the blonde.
"Well that was new." Naruto finally finished getting himself together as the rain began to get harder.
"What?" Sasuke looked at the blonde boy confused, new....as in new experience?
"That has never happened like that before." Naruto mumbled letting the rain take over his body, it felt so nice.
"Are you okay?" Sasuke didn't know what to think, a part of him was glad that he was the one to reach the blonde first but another part was telling him that he needed to go and train.
Sasuke stared in silence as he blonde stood in the rain. That was when it hit Sasuke. He needed to get away from Naruto..........something about Naruto was keeping part of his mind occupied and he had to get away.
He had to train for the exams. He wasn't going to fail, he had to get stronger to run into the brother that might still be alive. He needed to kill Itachi.
Sasuke felt a part of his chest begin to hurt as he thought about leaving Naruto, but it was only going to be for a few weeks. Why was it so hard?
'Because it is unfair that you aren't going to become jonins together' part of his mind told Sasuke. 'Its all your fault and you better know that.'
"Naruto are you okay! I am sorry!" Sakura ran into the corner with Lee.
"Yeah I am fine, but I think I should go talk to someone for a second." Naruto gave them a famous grin as he took his sunglasses from Sasuke.
"Oh okay but......" Sakura let the worry stay in her voice as she looked over at the blonde and then Sasuke.
"I am okay Sakura don't worry!" Naruto laughed as he gave the pink chakra a hug finally feeling her for the first time since he had been back.
"Sakura you need to get out of the rain." Lee took Sakura's hand and said his good bye before taking the girl back into the restaurant.
"Naruto-kun..." Hinata smiled from the door, she didn't want to interrupt Naruto and Sakura earlier so she stayed inside with Neji, she was glad the blond was okay.
"Who do you need to talk to?" Sasuke watched as Naruto smiled over to him, both of them were now officially soaking wet. Sasuke wanted to know who was so important to talk to right now that Naruto wasn't going to go back to Iruka's apartment and sleep. Maybe the blonde used that as an excuse so that he could get away from everyone?
"I need to talk to the hag about something." Naruto's smile became a bit sad before he began to walk away.
"Do you need help? Last time something like that happened you used up all of your chakra." Sasuke watched the back of the blonde as he stopped.
"I am good, I don't need everyone to take care of me you know." Sasuke watched confused as the blonde left.
What was that all about? The Uchiha was tempted to chase after him but he began to think otherwise. Naruto was right, he wasn't weak. Never was and never would be......
Right?
Naruto smiled, as his chakra seemed to be dancing with the rain that hit the ground. He always liked the rain but he couldn't enjoy just yet.
He had to talk to the hag and ask her some questions. He had never felt like that before and it was bothering him. He would go talk to Iruka but he didn't want to bother his little party with Kakashi right then.
So he was going to go to the next best thing. Tsunade and the blonde developed a sort of relationship since she had first met him. He felt like he could talk to her about anything and she gave good advice half of the time.
Talking to her made Naruto feel like he had an older sister. Not that he would ever be caught dead sharing that with anyone.
He still had his image to keep in the village.
######
"Hey Hag! You got a moment?" Naruto yelled obnoxiously as he entered the Hokage's office to see he yellow chakra leaning on her desk. The chakra seemed a little too relaxed..........Naruto frowned as he walked over to the desk making sure not to step on the many scrolls littering the floor.
"HEY WAKE UP YOU LAZY NO GOOD HOKAGE!" Naruto yelled with a smile as the yellow chakra jolted up.
"I wasn't napping Gen....Naruto you little brat!" Tsunade smirked at the laughing blonde in front of her before she noticed he was soaked from head to toe.
"What's the matter with you? You look like crap." Tsunade stated plainly wiping the rest of the sleep from her eyes.
"Well I am glad I cant see because I bet you look ten times worse..........like usual." Naruto added with a grin before he sat down in front of her desk motioning that he wanted to talk. Tsunade knew that from experience, Naruto never sat in her chairs unless it was important.
"What's wrong?" Tsunade went around her desk and sat beside the blonde she grew to love as a brother. Not that she would ever tell him that.
She still had a reputation to keep in the village.
"Well I told some people about everything." Naruto kept a sad smile on his face, he really wanted to see the hag's face.
"Even about the village being......"
"No not that, just about the blind thing. I would rather not have to think about the village right now." Naruto began to fumble with the chain around his neck.
"Well happened?" Tsunade didn't think that Naruto's friends would do anything to the blonde to upset him this much.
"The place got really crowded and I was stupid enough to leave the table." Naruto spoke as if it was something to laugh about.
"Did you start to panic?" Tsunade didn't hear anything about him destroying a restaurant from any of her workers.
"No.........it was weird." Naruto smiled a bit. "We began talking about everything that they had been doing since I was gone and it was so interesting. I didn't even notice the people enter the restaurant until Choji said something about a lunch rush."
"But you didn't panic? You weren't hurt were you?" Tsunade didn't know what to say, she had never experienced half of the stuff the blonde had and he was only a teenager.
"No actually I think Sasuke saved me before that happened." Naruto laughed, "The strange thing was that it was all eerily calm. At first it seemed like it was going to be all crazy like the party but then the noises stopped, I couldn't hear. Smell, heck at one point I couldn't even move my body!"
Tsunade frowned, "That sounds serious Naruto are you sure you are okay?" The blond boy seemed to be taking this too well.
"Yeah I am perfectly fine actually. I just felt a little sick but after walking in the rain I felt better. The thing was that............maybe it was just too scary to get scared about it." The blonde let out a sigh remembering his dream the last night.
"What do you mean?" Tsunade was really worried again and extremely happy she didn't have any more meetings for a while.
"Last night I had a dream that I couldn't see any chakra any more." Naruto began to hold on to the charm tightly. "I never want to go back to that darkness, it was too much. I am happy with just seeing colors even if it is all the time and I seemed to have become claustrophobic."
Tsunade smiled, probably a word Jiraiya had taught the boy on their trip.
"But I never thought that it could just be temporary, what if it left? I wouldn't be able to walk around as freely. I may be considered blind but even so I am not technically if I can see those colors and that is what holds me together. I am afraid." Naruto's face showed that he was being sincere to her right then. "I feel like I am afraid of the darkness baa- san."
"Naruto......" Tsunade just wanted to pull the boy into a tight embrace but she knew he did not want her sympathy like that. He just wanted to share with her so he could get this off of his chest.
"And then when the colors where spinning and I couldn't hear, smell, or speak for once it seemed worse. Like that if I fell over then I was going to die." Naruto smiled softly, "And I was welcoming death for the first time."
"Naruto!" Tsunade stared at the boy in front of her in shock. How could he say such a thing? How could he feel such a way?
"I know that this is hard for you but you are strong. At least that is what Kakashi said the whole time you were gone and he even yelled at me once for not believing in you. You hear that? That lazy butt teacher yelled at ME. The Hokage." Tsunade spat out quickly but making sure the blonde heard every word.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto was really surprised; he would have never expected anything like that.
"You don't get it still do you?" Tsunade's voice became quieter again. "This whole village was so different when you were gone no one was the same any more."
"What does my leaving have anything to do with affecting the village?" Naruto was really confused now, he was sure that most people weren't mad at him anymore but he knew that they still didn't like him.
"Naruto I think that you were blind before you went on that mission." Tsunade spit out sarcastically, "If you cannot see how much you affect other people's lives than I think you really are more blind than I thought."
"There is only one kind of blind hag." Naruto watched the yellow chakra flare up at the old nickname.
"And you can see things, it just chakra but you can still see it. So I guess that means that your not really blind then?" Tsunade pursed her lips together in a grin as she watched the blonde begin to think.
"Wait but what does that have to do with the people?" Naruto was confused again, didn't she just say that he was blind and now he isn't?
"Naruto if you weren't so dense it wouldn't amaze me if went ahead and took the Hokage name."
"Wait then I get it?" Naruto grinned as he sat up.
"Well no, I said you were too dense." Tsunade chuckled, "And how can you be it if you are so willing to give up on your own life so freely?"
Naruto stopped and gave her a sad smile. The old hag was right; he still had things to do. He couldn't give up now, he still had to prove that he could be Hokage.
"Now my little blonde idiot, is there anything else?" Tsunade smiled when the boy grinned over to her, maybe these meetings were helping them both.
"Baa-san?" Naruto blushed, he felt stupid about what he was going to ask, but it meant a lot to him if he could.
"Hn?" Tsunade smiled down at the boy in the chair beside her.
"C-can I touch your face?" Naruto turned his face hoping that the elder woman didn't see his blush. She was probably going to laugh at him and say no.
"Yes, Naruto." Tsunade walked over to the stunned blonde and grabbed his hands.
"My hair is still the same color." She joked as she put his hands in his hair, the blonde boy just wanted to be able to 'see' her in his mind.
"I still have the mark on my forehead and my skin is still pale." She laughed as she put his hands over her eyes. "My eyes are still blue."
"You still have a big nose." Naruto joked as he traced her nose.
"Hey I am being nice here letting you touch me." Tsunade growled with a smile.
"I bet this is the most contact you have had with a person in years." Naruto laughed until he was pounded on the head.
"I try to do something nice and this is what I get!" The Hokage went back over to her desk.
"I was only speaking the truth." Naruto mumbled before he found himself running away from the yellow chakra.
######
"What made you change your mind?" Kakashi watched as Sasuke began to go through the box that held everything that had survived from the falling of his house.
It wasn't a very big box.
"I knew I would train sometime, I just decided now." Sasuke glared over at his old sensei before picking out all of his surviving training material, the rest he could use the old weapons at his training house.
"Are you going to train by yourself?" The silver-haired jonin yawned as he laid on the bed.
"If you mean do I want you to come with me, suit yourself, but you know I could defeat you." Sasuke smirked and left the room as Kakashi got up to follow.
Sasuke was right, he had his good and bad days...........it was just that the Uchiha had been having a lot of good days lately. He trained day and night and would skip meals after Naruto had left.
He wasn't going to have a problem passing the test.
"You may be right about that, but what about Naruto?" Kakashi smirked under his mask as Sasuke stopped and turned around. Naruto had been training too this whole time.
"What about him?" Sasuke tried to make his voice unemotional but his eyes still gave it away. Not only did he blame himself for everything but it seemed to be hurting him too that he was going to take the exam without Naruto.......is what Kakashi thought to himself.
"Could you defeat him? We still have no idea about what he had learned." Kakashi smiled when he noticed he had the Uchiha's attention. "You know that Naruto is not weak if he could come up with all of those chakra techniques himself."
"I never said he was weak. Tell Iruka thank you from me for letting me stay here and if Naruto cares tell him that I went training." Sasuke turned around and left the apartment even though the rain had gotten heavier.
"Of course he will care Sasuke." Kakashi sighed as he went to go back to his sleeping dolphin. These heart to hearts with Sasuke were getting exhausting, the jonin thought to himself as he entered the room.
######
"Oh so he left? To do what?" Naruto sat at the dinner table with Kakashi as Iruka sang to himself happily and made the meal for his two favorite people.
"To train for the jonin exams." Kakashi gleefully as he watched Iruka began to dance to his tune, he was really getting into it.
"Oh......" Naruto grinned, he was happy that Sasuke was going to take them so soon, he had heard that Shikamaru at some time had became a jonin so it was about time Sasuke caught up. "When is the exam anyway?"
He remembered hearing that Ino and Kiba had left to train so it had to be at least a month or two away.
"Three weeks." Kakashi looked at the calendar on the fridge (a new one) and checked the dates.
"THREE WEEKS?!" Naruto tried not to spit out the water he was drinking. "That idiot thinks that three weeks of training will help?"
"Yeah, that's what he thought." Kakashi curved his visible eye as he watched the blonde begin to fidget.
"He better have improved a lot and I mean A LOT from his skills before or else he wont have a chance." Naruto said in an almost joking manner.
"Well he has beaten me once or twice." Kakashi scratched his nose and laughed when he saw Iruka rolling his eyes at him. He didn't have to be totally honest, it wasn't like they were counting that Sasuke had beaten him 23 to 16 fights.
Okay so maybe he was just a little upset.
"I am a failure as a ninja, no wonder why Gai is still winning 79 to 78!" Kakashi said in half thought and hit his head against the table.
"Oookay." Naruto watched the silver figure hit it's head against the able a few more times.
"You would think that you were stronger after all of those A class missions." Iruka joked as he put some plates on the table.
"Thanks koi, you know exactly what to say." Kakashi joked back sarcastically.
"Um, you know if you two would like me to leave I bet I could go to Sakura's or Shikamaru's." Naruto said halfway blushing.
"Nonsense, you are staying here with me." Iruka stated as he left the table.
"Besides I think he has separation anxiety." Kakashi whispered across the table before an oven mitt hit him in the face.
"So three weeks?" Naruto went back to the thought of the jonin exam.
"You seem really surprised." Iruka put food on the table as he watched Naruto's expressions.
"Well its just that, is he ready? I have SEEN his chakra and it doesn't seem that big, its powerful but........."
"You should have more faith in your teammates." The silver chakra interrupted poking Naruto's nose with a chopstick.
"I do but......" Naruto frowned, it was stupid but he was just......
"Worried? Its understandable the jonin exams are very hard........." Iruka looked at the guys, "from what I hear anyway." The chunin pouted; of course they wouldn't take him serious if he hadn't taken the exam himself.
"Well didn't you used to help Sandaime set up for the exams because they only involve our country." Kakashi decided to cheer up his dolphin that, in return, blushed.
"Yeah but that was Sandaime, Godaime has a mind of her own and wont let anyone see the plans yet." Iruka frowned, "And she said I was annoying!" He acted almost hurt.
"Aww Iruka-sensei is getting picked on by the bully Hokage?" Naruto teased before he began to serve himself.
"She just thinks it annoying how you are so perfect that you can actually GET her to attend every meeting and she HARDLY gets times for naps anymore." Kakashi grinned and pulled his mask down.
"Anyway about training, don't you think you should start soon too?" Kakashi then noticed the blonde in front of him was staring over at him. Well if the blonde had his eyes open it would have looked like he was staring at him.
"What?"
"You took down your mask?" Naruto couldn't believe it, the one chance Kakashi takes his mask down and he had to be blind? Stupid luck.
"Um......how else would I eat?" Kakashi joked but before he knew it Naruto had reached across the table and had both of his hands on the jonin's face.
"Naru....." Iruka was really confused, what just happened? But now Naruto was grinning as he felt Kakashi's face.
"I guess you might be handsome so I approve." Naruto sat back down getting a dumbfounded look from both of his senseis.
"Approve for what?" Iruka had to ask.
"Your children!" Naruto grinned and started eating seeming to not notice how the other two had spat out their food.
"Wha......ma......da?" Iruka was bewildered and blushing like mad while Kakashi seemed to catch his cool back.
Naruto laughed as he finished his bowl of rice and beef. It wasn't everyday you could tease your favorites senseis.
"Well um......" Kakashi cleared his throat trying to change the subject, "Are you going to train?"
"Train?" Naruto thought about it for a moment, "Yeah I cant have Sasuke getting ahead of me you know. I still want to fight him."
"Really?" Kakashi answered more like stating a fact than a question but he still had to smile. Naruto would always consider and keep himself on par with Sasuke. Weakness or no weakness.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto furrowed his eyebrows as he heard the silver chakra chuckle. "I bet I could still beat him!"
Kakashi chuckled some more as he thought of the first day Naruto had beaten Sasuke, it was a totally fluke and thanks to a kunai gone haywire and lots of good aiming on Naruto's part the Uchiha had left training extremely angry that day.
Of course he had beaten the crap out of the blonde the next day back.
"Stop laughing or else I will shove this spoon up your........."
BAM.
Everyone stood up as they heard the door come crashing down and Naruto saw a green chakra fall into the living room.
"Dang it Neji I was just kidding!" Lee laughed at his friend that was standing where the door used to be.
"Lee?" Naruto looked over to see a very angry light blue chakra. So much for the homely presence that Iruka normally gave off.
"What is going on?" Iruka asked through clenched teeth. They had knocked down his door............his door that he had just finished changing the locks after Konohamaru thought it would be funny to put junk up in the keyholes.
"Ah.........Oh man! The door!" Lee jumped up and lifted the door up.
"You noticed that now?" Kakashi, Naruto, and Neji asked dumbfoundedly.
"Hehe gomen Iruka-sensei." Lee put his hand behind his head as he used the other to lean the door against the nearest wall.
"So why are you here anyway? Do you still have questions?" Naruto smiled over at the green and white chakra. Jiraiya was right when he had said that everything would be better when he told them everything because now he felt a lot of weight had lifted off of his shoulders. He didn't have to hide one more thing around his friends.
"Um.........actually I remembered you said that you were taking that special class this year and then Neji said I forgot to tell you that I was too so I came to tell you that." Lee stuck a thumbs up at Naruto before stopping realizing that maybe the blonde couldn't see it.
"I can see you Lee and your stupid thumbs up." Naruto grinned, "that is great! That way I can help you when you need help ne?"
"Hey! I am the one offering the help!" Lee argued back.
"No Lee, you should take his offer........." Neji stated in the background catching everyone by surprise.
"Neji you are so mean that is why you are my rival!" Lee shook his fist in the air as Naruto laughed.
"Neji is human! He made a joke!"
"Okay so I understand why Lee came but why you too Neji-kun?" Kakashi drooled out the kun part, oh how he loved to tease Gai's old students.
"I wanted to see if Naruto would like to have a small spar before we have guard duty." Neji stated still standing outside of the apartment.
"Wow guard duty two days in a row? What did you do to peeve off the old hag?" Naruto joked as he walked out of the kitchen.
"I volunteered." Neji stated emotionlessly earning a cough from Lee.
"Well then I accept your offer, we were just talking about training before you broke the door Lee." Naruto waved and left with Neji.
"Don't worry Iruka-sensei I shall fix your door!" Kakashi watched amusedly as Lee tried his hardest, the kid was a ninja not a repair man.
"Do you think he will be okay against Neji?" Iruka asked Kakashi with an expression of worry.
"Well obviously Neji wants to find out." Kakashi joked before patting Iruka on the back. "Don't worry Jiraiya said that Naruto could keep his own against him so that's a good sign."
"If you say so.........Lee don't do that!" Iruka ran over to save his door from the clutches of the azure beast of Konoha.
######
The sun was setting as everything grew darker, but Naruto wouldn't notice his small advantage.
Naruto groaned mentally as they reached the training field when he realized that at least half of his chakra was gone from that experience this morning. Well maybe since Neji liked close combat he wouldn't have to spread his chakra so far out.
"But then again I don't want to be close to him." Naruto whispered to himself as the white chakra began to stretch.
"Are you sure you are okay with this Naruto? I could always wa........."
"Yeah I am good, why? Are you afraid of being beaten by a blind guy?" Naruto snickered not realizing the frown he had just made on Neji's face.
"You are still really annoying." Neji sighed as he took his stance.
"And you are totally unprepared." Naruto snickered as he pulled his katana strap over his shoulder. He only took one when he had left Iruka's apartment, it wasn't like he was going to be fighting Jiraiya or anything............
"Am I?" Neji let a smirk grace his lips as he activated the Byukugan. "I know that you see with your chakra so you should try to give up before I seal up all your chakra points."
"Dang. I forgot he did that." Naruto cursed at himself before trying to think of another plan. Maybe he could still.........
"Well are we going to fight or just stand here?" Neji asked as he watched Naruto grin.
"Aw, but don't you like looking at my sexy self?" Naruto whined with a large grin.
"No I just thought it was unfair that you couldn't see how much cuter I am." Neji made his second joke that day catching the blonde off guard.
"You really changed." Naruto stated flatly as if he didn't really care but was surprised at the same time.
"Shut up and lets begin." Neji watched as Naruto vanished and quickly looked around to see three Naruto's were behind him.
Well Naruto had certainly gotten quicker and he still did bunshin no jutsu. Of course Neji had a new trick that he knew Naruto would enjoy.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
And the fight began.
######
"So Naruto felt something different?" Jiraiya puffed on his pipe as he watched Tsunade sit on her bed.
"I never want to see him like that again Jiraiya.......it...."
"Broke your heart to see him that way? You should be glad you weren't with him when it dawned on him that he would never be able to see someone's face again or even a cloud. Or the time when the villagers died and he blamed himself for his weakness and then the other village and he blamed himself for his lack of control over the Kyubi. Then the time he first experienced the colors drowning him alive." Jiraiya watched as the woman in front of him tensed.
Then the old man smiled.
"But what you really missed was when his face would brighten up after he could use his senses beyond how any human could, when the village hired him as a babysitter and then even a teacher, how he laughed when the children made him touch the things they didn't believe he knew about, the day he took the seeing of chakra as a small gift instead of a curse. The way he smiles when he develops new techniques that is what you missed."
Tsunade smiled over at the old man, he always knew what to say to her to make her smile. Given he knew exactly what to say to make her mad but it was a moment like this she would forgive Jiraiya for anything he had done in the past.
"Thanks." She grinned as she looked out of her window not noticing how the white-haired man was now blushing furiously.
"Tsunade........." Jiraiya blushed even more when he realized he had her full attention again. "There is something I need to tell you........."
Why did he make that promise with Naruto? You tell your friends and I will tell Tsunade about.........
"I love you."
######
And I am ending it there..........Please don't hate me! I am sorry! It was getting really long! Like 18 pages! Lol
And for those of you who didn't get what the one condition was..........like my sister who read this before you (sighs)
Sasuke made Naruto wear his other cloths from the foreign village because he wanted Naruto to be comfortable. And he had noticed that the blond had seemed very uncomfortable in what he calls 'normal clothing for ninjas' so he made Naruto where the other clothing.
For those of you who put your minds in the gutters! Shame on you! And for those who thought of a better condition than me............please don't flame me I am stupid! Lol
Naruto also realized in this chapter that when he drops his guard the colors don't bother him in a crowd............but that's when he drops his guard, which a ninja isn't supposed to do.........
Let me think.........anything else I need to say?
Um.........hehehehe you will have to wait and see who won the fight between Naruto and Neji. You have to remember that Neji was severely injured in his battle with the sound ninja....he had a hole going threw his body!!! But he survived and had only taken the special class a year before. And yes he did learn Kage Bunshin no jutsu! (the one that makes real bodies anyway) That was actually something random I decided to add in but let me tell you even though its Naruto's favorite jutsu it is probably the worst to be used against him......but that will be explained later lol
Oh and Neji is a chunin. Tsunade gave him it without having to take the exams again and after he had taken the course. So he is a recent chunin.
I just thought that would make it easier on me......I know I am lazy but...
I am trying not to spoil anything! Argh!
Next chapter is actually going to be about what happened in the villages Naruto was at. A random place to put it but believe me it will work out. And I know some of you are dieing to know what really happened!
And that chapter is like thirty pages! I was going to divide it...and I might have to because of ff.net I don't know...but it's a long chapter so I hope you guys like it!
And yes Jiraiya just confessed his love to Tsunade because he had promised Naruto on their journey back to Konoha that if the blonde told his friends about his blindness that he would tell Tsunade his feelings.
Hahaha!
REPLIES TO REVIEWS!
Mystic-Hoshi : lol well I hope my chappies aren't too long! But I know that the next chappie about all of the villages is really long! Lol I just didn't want to divide it up! It is like 28 pages lol this chapter is like 17 haha sry!
Elie-3173: Is your name from Rave Master? I love that manga! I haven't seen the anime tho lol. Yeah poor Naruto...
Kyandisu: I am glad you found this ficcie on a whim lol! Thank you! I hope you keep reading this! Do you have glasses? Is that your eye problem? Haha I know how you feel if that is it! I think my eyes keep getting worse since I have gotten glasses lol! I hope you have a good summer!
RuByMoOn17: lol I just thought it would be really funny for Iruka to do that ya know? Lol Even though Iruka is so close to perfect! (heart heart) Haha I hope you liked this chappie!
Ssimiraitrks: Thank you!
Ria Sakazaki: Yeah Ino is stupid! Haha lol well I just really don't care for her or Sakura too much but I cant kill them off....yet lol jk jk I don't think I would do that to Naruto haha! Thank you!
Lynn Lee: YAY! (happy dance) Thank you! Lol surprisingly all of my friends thought I was weird to begin with ;; oh well heehee! KakaIru and SasuNaru are cool! It is really funny though because I came to ff.net I really hated Sasuke and I really hated SasuNAru...and now look at me! Lol ttyl!
Lightdragon1987: Thank you! Lol
Siobhn01: Lol I will tell you again jic (just in case lol) the one condition was to wear the cloths! I was going for something more realistic that Sasuke would ask and well that Sasuke would notice too! Yeah you will learn all about the little girl in the next chappie too! Lol I am happy no one has cried yet! Ciao
Dream Fox: Thank you! Lol I hope you liked this chappie as well!
The La/=/er: Lol! You had a brain fart? (as my little immature friends like to put it) Lol ! You petted? (is that a word?) my chapter! Lol (happy dances) yeah....i don't think they would ever get along lol unless they set up a mutual understanding of like 'I hate you and you hate me but if we are ordered to work together then fine' lol I know! I want to see what happens to everyone! I haven't even read 220 yet! My stupid comp! (cries) Wow you are really being nice here! (blushes) you are too kind! Haha! You reviews are always the longest too!
(cont'd) Yes Mr. I-am-the-perfect-sensei-and-role-model-and-I-look-good- doing-it! Was wrong lol.I think funniness is a word! Lol I put it on one of my English papers last year...of course I got like a D and my teacher still thinks I smoke crack lol SasuNaru cuteness and fluffiness! Haha Yes Kakashi is a lazy bum lol who would get his student to probably do EVERYTHING just so he could read his book (we know that is what he was really doing instead of waiting inline at the store lol) I am sorry! (bows) I will try to be nicer to the poor blonde boy! Lol who am I kidding? Haha well I hope you weren't too mad about where I ended this chappie lol
(cont'd lol) Honest Comment of the Day! That is cool! Lol Thankyou for that lol...and I just realized I put lol and a lot of !!! in your reply! Lol sorry and I hope you don't get a headache! Btw...I love you stories! They are so interesting and I really want to know why Naruto left! And what is everyone's reaction to him returning! He does return right? Right? (gets all bubbly eyed) right? Lol if you update your story I will update mine quicker! (come on I am trying to bribe you here! Lol ttyl!)
Aimi-chan: Lol well I guess my story is a little predictable but you'll see lol Have a great summer!
Duenna: Thank you!
Ookima: Lol of course I wont discontinue this ficcie unless I miraculously get to japan and become a mangaka or make my own animes! That would be so cool! (goes off to dreamland)
Japanime......(drools)
ErikKoekkoek: Ah! I didn't mean to make fun of your name! (okay maybe a little but I didn't know it was your real name) Agh! I feel horrible lol! Well my whole name(if I must tell you 'sigh') is Kara Virginia Leopard! I am named after a state and a cat! Lol well shonen-ai is like boys kissing and that's it pretty much lol I am glad you have stayed interested in this story! Btw I love your story! It is really interesting! (though my comp has been broken so I don't know if you have updated or not lol) I liked all of your chapters anyway lol I hope I corrected the jonins to jounins for you lol ciao!
Chibified kitsunes: I love your name btw. Yeah the next chappie is all about the two villages Naruto was at most of the time! It might be a little sad...and Naruto isn't himself at the beginning...I mean he finally realized it wasn't temporary that he couldn't see so yeah I would be depressed too lol...I hope you like it and its really long because I thought you guys would get upset if I divided it lol but I might have to due to ff.net but if I do I will post it at the same time lol
Ramen No Tenshi: lol So wait are you Sakura and Naruto or are they your muses? Lol cute btw
Sally11: well its not yaoi lol its shonen-ai (look at Eriks review reply) haha and it wont be too much cuz well...I still think I suck at all the romantic stuff lol thank you and I hope you continue reading this story!
Jennivah: Lol yeah though Naruto probably couldn't stand a chance against Jiraiya if they were really fighting...cuz I mean he IS and sanin and all...and I think Orochimaru even said that Jiraiya was stronger than him...but I don't remember where so I will look that up lol! I hope you liked this cliffie! Sry about that lol!
I HOPE YOU ARE ALL HAVING A GREAT CHAPTER AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!
And if you guys have updated your stories but haven't gotten a review from me its because of that! And I will review for your stories as soon as I check my mail! Lol
BTW! I hope all of you are having a great summer!
######
"Even if you were the last person on earth............oh wait then I would be dead!"
-quoteth K-chan once when she didn't make a point.
######
Chapter seven: Lunch, Train, Promises.
######
Naruto walked out of the bathroom after his shower wearing his original baggy pants that he had worn when he arrived at Konoha with his black tank top that went with them. He would have had to wear the robes too but they were destroyed with the house.
"Sasuke why do I have wear these? Don't they make me look like I am from some other country?" Naruto pouted as he finished tightening the pants around his waist with his favorite small blade that he carried with him everywhere.
"You seemed more comfortable in those than the regular cloths and I didn't want to have to deal with you acting like an idiot all tensed up." Sasuke sighed as he finished putting on his shirt; he had decided to take a shower before Naruto.
"Well I am still wearing the glasses." Naruto put them over his closed eyes and walked into the living room where Sakura had been waiting.
"Are you ready Naruto?" Sakura blushed as the blonde walked into the room. The blonde wearing those cloths not only made him look cuter but a lot more mysterious too.
"Yeah lets go." Naruto tried to smile as he found the doorknob and opened the door for the pink-haired girl.
Sasuke followed the two quickly shutting the door behind him. He did not want to know what was keeping Kakashi and Iruka so quiet.
Sakura watched as the two boys walked beside each other and noticed how different they were.
Sasuke walked with a frown on his face and kept looking straightforward but would glance over at Naruto every once in a while. While Naruto had a smile on his face even though he knew what he was getting into and he didn't seem to be paying that much attention to his surroundings but Sakura knew he was.........maybe that could be a question she could ask him later, how could he move around so freely?
Sasuke walked in a possessive manner beside the blonde haired boy while the other seemed carefree. One wearing dark plain cloths while the other extravagant foreign clothing. One had on Shinobi sandals with his weapon pouches fully loaded while the other had bathhouse shoes and only a small blade tied around his waist.
They seemed to contradict each other in everyway.
Sasuke looked over at Naruto. The blonde did seem a lot more relaxed in the heavier clothing. Sasuke had noticed from the time he saw Naruto walking with Iruka the day before that the blonde seemed a little tenser.
He knew that this was going to be difficult for Naruto so he thought that the blonde might do a little better under the pressure if he was more comfortable.
"Hey!" Naruto looked forward to see a green chakra now standing beside the pink one. They must have gotten to the restaurant already. He felt really nervous; any shinobi would if he was about to be interrogated about a weakness by his friends.
"How are you doing Naruto?" Lee smiled over at the blonde and Sasuke before opening the door for them. "Our table is in the back."
Naruto could feel his heart start to beat faster; the way Lee said 'our' made it sound like a lot of people were there.
Sasuke turned the corner to see Hinata whisper something to Shikamaru. He guessed that they were probably telling each other to act normal around Naruto, as far as he could tell that was what Sakura was telling Lee.
"Ohayo Naruto-kun." Hinata blushed as she began to fiddle her fingers.
The only people there were Hinata, Neji, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Lee and Sakura.
Naruto glanced at the different colors, two white, a dark gray, light green with millions of wholes in it almost making it look like there was no chakra, green, and then pink.
Only six people other than himself and Sasuke; he could do this, it wouldn't be so bad.
They sat quietly everyone watching Naruto as the blonde just concentrated his chakra on his surroundings.
"Che, just ask him already." Sasuke blurted out from his seat beside Naruto causing everyone to get a little flustered other than Neji and Shino. The Uchiha hated it when people stalled.
"Well I guess I will start then......" Naruto laughed nervously as he began to explain what he had already told Sasuke and Hokage.
"I only know who you are by your chakra and voice, the only other things I can see is whatever I put my own chakra on. Even then everything is orange but the texture is always different so I know what it is........What I don't put my chakra on I cannot see." Naruto started right at the point as he tried to explain.
"What happens if there is no chakra?" Sakura asked as she listened intently; this whole concept was strange and she had never heard of it before.
"Darkness." Naruto felt a shiver down his spine as he remembered the dream. He never wanted to go back to the darkness known as being blind. It was too horrible.
As he went on Naruto could tell whenever someone entered the store and slowly the areas around them were getting pretty full. He tried not to concentrate on them so hard and hoped that they wouldn't start moving.
"So where is Kiba and Ino anyway?" Naruto had gotten the conversation off of him and onto what they had been up to since he was gone.
"They are training for the jonin exams that are coming soon, that is why I was surprised to see you here too Sasuke." Lee smiled over to the Uchiha, "You probably don't need to train right?"
Sasuke just glanced at him for a moment but didn't answer; he had no idea why he wasn't training. He probably should train if not a little. But part of his mind felt so occupied by something he couldn't place yet that it seemed to not bother him that he wasn't training.
"Hey guys my aunt is calling me to help I think the lunch rush is here." Choji stood up and made his way through the crowds.
And that was when everyone noticed how full the place was, there were no empty seats and people standing up everywhere.
Naruto was surprised at first but then he noticed that he had been concentrating so hard on one thing that he didn't even notice all the movement around him. He was concerned with the seven people around him that he didn't notice the restaurant get full.
Naruto turned to tell Sasuke something only not to see but a small spot of the red chakra. Everyone's chakra had already started spinning together before Naruto could even try to concentrate again.
Was this how it was supposed to happen?
He stood up as the noises became louder but all he could see was the colors spinning making him lose his balance and run into something.
Sasuke watched as Naruto seemed calm for a moment before he stood up, his facial expression seemed confused and scared. Someone bumped into the blonde causing Naruto to slowly start to wonder into the loud crowds before Sasuke could grab him.
He knew Naruto was only looking for a way out but he had to help. He looked back at the table to see everyone else was going to go get Naruto out of the crowd too. He could use their help.
Naruto felt himself trip on his own feet before he caught himself. This was different than the times before. The room was so loud one moment but now it was eerily quiet he couldn't hear anything. He tried to move his mouth but found that his jaw wouldn't move.
What was going on? This has never happened before.
Naruto felt dizzy and sick as the sweat began to force his cloths to stick to his body and he kept bumping into things he could not see. The silence was horrible, he felt like he was floating into a spinning abyss with no way out.
Naruto tried to keep moving but realized his body had stopped itself and wouldn't start again. Something was wrong. Why couldn't he control his own body?
Then he felt like he was being pulled roughly bumping into what seemed like many things before he hit something cold and hard. It even felt wet.
Naruto gasped as he leaned his back against whatever it was, his body seemed to be getting colder and wet too. He couldn't tell what was going on.
Then red chakra flared up in front of him, it was so close almost like it was going to consume him like a fire.
"Naruto can you hear me?" Naruto heard Sasuke's voice; the colors seemed to stop immediately to the sound of Sasuke's words.
"Naruto?" Sasuke asked again, the look on Naruto's face was scaring him, not only were the blonde's eyes open and his sunglasses in Sasuke's hand as he had the blonde pinned against a brick wall in the ally behind the restaurant but his face looked dazed to the point Sasuke thought the blonde was going to fall over any moment.
"Sasu......" Naruto tried to move his mouth again, this was a new experience for him, the red chakra still over him protectively as Naruto finally noticed that what was making him wet was rain. When it started raining he had no clue.
"Can you here me?" Sasuke asked again as he watched Naruto's features change and the blonde closed his eyes.
"Yes......" Naruto whispered softly finally noticing that Sasuke had him pinned to the wall by his own body. "Thank you but um........." Naruto could fell his face warm up.
"Oh! Sorry." Sasuke mumbled under his breath as he quickly jumped off of the blonde.
"Well that was new." Naruto finally finished getting himself together as the rain began to get harder.
"What?" Sasuke looked at the blonde boy confused, new....as in new experience?
"That has never happened like that before." Naruto mumbled letting the rain take over his body, it felt so nice.
"Are you okay?" Sasuke didn't know what to think, a part of him was glad that he was the one to reach the blonde first but another part was telling him that he needed to go and train.
Sasuke stared in silence as he blonde stood in the rain. That was when it hit Sasuke. He needed to get away from Naruto..........something about Naruto was keeping part of his mind occupied and he had to get away.
He had to train for the exams. He wasn't going to fail, he had to get stronger to run into the brother that might still be alive. He needed to kill Itachi.
Sasuke felt a part of his chest begin to hurt as he thought about leaving Naruto, but it was only going to be for a few weeks. Why was it so hard?
'Because it is unfair that you aren't going to become jonins together' part of his mind told Sasuke. 'Its all your fault and you better know that.'
"Naruto are you okay! I am sorry!" Sakura ran into the corner with Lee.
"Yeah I am fine, but I think I should go talk to someone for a second." Naruto gave them a famous grin as he took his sunglasses from Sasuke.
"Oh okay but......" Sakura let the worry stay in her voice as she looked over at the blonde and then Sasuke.
"I am okay Sakura don't worry!" Naruto laughed as he gave the pink chakra a hug finally feeling her for the first time since he had been back.
"Sakura you need to get out of the rain." Lee took Sakura's hand and said his good bye before taking the girl back into the restaurant.
"Naruto-kun..." Hinata smiled from the door, she didn't want to interrupt Naruto and Sakura earlier so she stayed inside with Neji, she was glad the blond was okay.
"Who do you need to talk to?" Sasuke watched as Naruto smiled over to him, both of them were now officially soaking wet. Sasuke wanted to know who was so important to talk to right now that Naruto wasn't going to go back to Iruka's apartment and sleep. Maybe the blonde used that as an excuse so that he could get away from everyone?
"I need to talk to the hag about something." Naruto's smile became a bit sad before he began to walk away.
"Do you need help? Last time something like that happened you used up all of your chakra." Sasuke watched the back of the blonde as he stopped.
"I am good, I don't need everyone to take care of me you know." Sasuke watched confused as the blonde left.
What was that all about? The Uchiha was tempted to chase after him but he began to think otherwise. Naruto was right, he wasn't weak. Never was and never would be......
Right?
Naruto smiled, as his chakra seemed to be dancing with the rain that hit the ground. He always liked the rain but he couldn't enjoy just yet.
He had to talk to the hag and ask her some questions. He had never felt like that before and it was bothering him. He would go talk to Iruka but he didn't want to bother his little party with Kakashi right then.
So he was going to go to the next best thing. Tsunade and the blonde developed a sort of relationship since she had first met him. He felt like he could talk to her about anything and she gave good advice half of the time.
Talking to her made Naruto feel like he had an older sister. Not that he would ever be caught dead sharing that with anyone.
He still had his image to keep in the village.
######
"Hey Hag! You got a moment?" Naruto yelled obnoxiously as he entered the Hokage's office to see he yellow chakra leaning on her desk. The chakra seemed a little too relaxed..........Naruto frowned as he walked over to the desk making sure not to step on the many scrolls littering the floor.
"HEY WAKE UP YOU LAZY NO GOOD HOKAGE!" Naruto yelled with a smile as the yellow chakra jolted up.
"I wasn't napping Gen....Naruto you little brat!" Tsunade smirked at the laughing blonde in front of her before she noticed he was soaked from head to toe.
"What's the matter with you? You look like crap." Tsunade stated plainly wiping the rest of the sleep from her eyes.
"Well I am glad I cant see because I bet you look ten times worse..........like usual." Naruto added with a grin before he sat down in front of her desk motioning that he wanted to talk. Tsunade knew that from experience, Naruto never sat in her chairs unless it was important.
"What's wrong?" Tsunade went around her desk and sat beside the blonde she grew to love as a brother. Not that she would ever tell him that.
She still had a reputation to keep in the village.
"Well I told some people about everything." Naruto kept a sad smile on his face, he really wanted to see the hag's face.
"Even about the village being......"
"No not that, just about the blind thing. I would rather not have to think about the village right now." Naruto began to fumble with the chain around his neck.
"Well happened?" Tsunade didn't think that Naruto's friends would do anything to the blonde to upset him this much.
"The place got really crowded and I was stupid enough to leave the table." Naruto spoke as if it was something to laugh about.
"Did you start to panic?" Tsunade didn't hear anything about him destroying a restaurant from any of her workers.
"No.........it was weird." Naruto smiled a bit. "We began talking about everything that they had been doing since I was gone and it was so interesting. I didn't even notice the people enter the restaurant until Choji said something about a lunch rush."
"But you didn't panic? You weren't hurt were you?" Tsunade didn't know what to say, she had never experienced half of the stuff the blonde had and he was only a teenager.
"No actually I think Sasuke saved me before that happened." Naruto laughed, "The strange thing was that it was all eerily calm. At first it seemed like it was going to be all crazy like the party but then the noises stopped, I couldn't hear. Smell, heck at one point I couldn't even move my body!"
Tsunade frowned, "That sounds serious Naruto are you sure you are okay?" The blond boy seemed to be taking this too well.
"Yeah I am perfectly fine actually. I just felt a little sick but after walking in the rain I felt better. The thing was that............maybe it was just too scary to get scared about it." The blonde let out a sigh remembering his dream the last night.
"What do you mean?" Tsunade was really worried again and extremely happy she didn't have any more meetings for a while.
"Last night I had a dream that I couldn't see any chakra any more." Naruto began to hold on to the charm tightly. "I never want to go back to that darkness, it was too much. I am happy with just seeing colors even if it is all the time and I seemed to have become claustrophobic."
Tsunade smiled, probably a word Jiraiya had taught the boy on their trip.
"But I never thought that it could just be temporary, what if it left? I wouldn't be able to walk around as freely. I may be considered blind but even so I am not technically if I can see those colors and that is what holds me together. I am afraid." Naruto's face showed that he was being sincere to her right then. "I feel like I am afraid of the darkness baa- san."
"Naruto......" Tsunade just wanted to pull the boy into a tight embrace but she knew he did not want her sympathy like that. He just wanted to share with her so he could get this off of his chest.
"And then when the colors where spinning and I couldn't hear, smell, or speak for once it seemed worse. Like that if I fell over then I was going to die." Naruto smiled softly, "And I was welcoming death for the first time."
"Naruto!" Tsunade stared at the boy in front of her in shock. How could he say such a thing? How could he feel such a way?
"I know that this is hard for you but you are strong. At least that is what Kakashi said the whole time you were gone and he even yelled at me once for not believing in you. You hear that? That lazy butt teacher yelled at ME. The Hokage." Tsunade spat out quickly but making sure the blonde heard every word.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto was really surprised; he would have never expected anything like that.
"You don't get it still do you?" Tsunade's voice became quieter again. "This whole village was so different when you were gone no one was the same any more."
"What does my leaving have anything to do with affecting the village?" Naruto was really confused now, he was sure that most people weren't mad at him anymore but he knew that they still didn't like him.
"Naruto I think that you were blind before you went on that mission." Tsunade spit out sarcastically, "If you cannot see how much you affect other people's lives than I think you really are more blind than I thought."
"There is only one kind of blind hag." Naruto watched the yellow chakra flare up at the old nickname.
"And you can see things, it just chakra but you can still see it. So I guess that means that your not really blind then?" Tsunade pursed her lips together in a grin as she watched the blonde begin to think.
"Wait but what does that have to do with the people?" Naruto was confused again, didn't she just say that he was blind and now he isn't?
"Naruto if you weren't so dense it wouldn't amaze me if went ahead and took the Hokage name."
"Wait then I get it?" Naruto grinned as he sat up.
"Well no, I said you were too dense." Tsunade chuckled, "And how can you be it if you are so willing to give up on your own life so freely?"
Naruto stopped and gave her a sad smile. The old hag was right; he still had things to do. He couldn't give up now, he still had to prove that he could be Hokage.
"Now my little blonde idiot, is there anything else?" Tsunade smiled when the boy grinned over to her, maybe these meetings were helping them both.
"Baa-san?" Naruto blushed, he felt stupid about what he was going to ask, but it meant a lot to him if he could.
"Hn?" Tsunade smiled down at the boy in the chair beside her.
"C-can I touch your face?" Naruto turned his face hoping that the elder woman didn't see his blush. She was probably going to laugh at him and say no.
"Yes, Naruto." Tsunade walked over to the stunned blonde and grabbed his hands.
"My hair is still the same color." She joked as she put his hands in his hair, the blonde boy just wanted to be able to 'see' her in his mind.
"I still have the mark on my forehead and my skin is still pale." She laughed as she put his hands over her eyes. "My eyes are still blue."
"You still have a big nose." Naruto joked as he traced her nose.
"Hey I am being nice here letting you touch me." Tsunade growled with a smile.
"I bet this is the most contact you have had with a person in years." Naruto laughed until he was pounded on the head.
"I try to do something nice and this is what I get!" The Hokage went back over to her desk.
"I was only speaking the truth." Naruto mumbled before he found himself running away from the yellow chakra.
######
"What made you change your mind?" Kakashi watched as Sasuke began to go through the box that held everything that had survived from the falling of his house.
It wasn't a very big box.
"I knew I would train sometime, I just decided now." Sasuke glared over at his old sensei before picking out all of his surviving training material, the rest he could use the old weapons at his training house.
"Are you going to train by yourself?" The silver-haired jonin yawned as he laid on the bed.
"If you mean do I want you to come with me, suit yourself, but you know I could defeat you." Sasuke smirked and left the room as Kakashi got up to follow.
Sasuke was right, he had his good and bad days...........it was just that the Uchiha had been having a lot of good days lately. He trained day and night and would skip meals after Naruto had left.
He wasn't going to have a problem passing the test.
"You may be right about that, but what about Naruto?" Kakashi smirked under his mask as Sasuke stopped and turned around. Naruto had been training too this whole time.
"What about him?" Sasuke tried to make his voice unemotional but his eyes still gave it away. Not only did he blame himself for everything but it seemed to be hurting him too that he was going to take the exam without Naruto.......is what Kakashi thought to himself.
"Could you defeat him? We still have no idea about what he had learned." Kakashi smiled when he noticed he had the Uchiha's attention. "You know that Naruto is not weak if he could come up with all of those chakra techniques himself."
"I never said he was weak. Tell Iruka thank you from me for letting me stay here and if Naruto cares tell him that I went training." Sasuke turned around and left the apartment even though the rain had gotten heavier.
"Of course he will care Sasuke." Kakashi sighed as he went to go back to his sleeping dolphin. These heart to hearts with Sasuke were getting exhausting, the jonin thought to himself as he entered the room.
######
"Oh so he left? To do what?" Naruto sat at the dinner table with Kakashi as Iruka sang to himself happily and made the meal for his two favorite people.
"To train for the jonin exams." Kakashi gleefully as he watched Iruka began to dance to his tune, he was really getting into it.
"Oh......" Naruto grinned, he was happy that Sasuke was going to take them so soon, he had heard that Shikamaru at some time had became a jonin so it was about time Sasuke caught up. "When is the exam anyway?"
He remembered hearing that Ino and Kiba had left to train so it had to be at least a month or two away.
"Three weeks." Kakashi looked at the calendar on the fridge (a new one) and checked the dates.
"THREE WEEKS?!" Naruto tried not to spit out the water he was drinking. "That idiot thinks that three weeks of training will help?"
"Yeah, that's what he thought." Kakashi curved his visible eye as he watched the blonde begin to fidget.
"He better have improved a lot and I mean A LOT from his skills before or else he wont have a chance." Naruto said in an almost joking manner.
"Well he has beaten me once or twice." Kakashi scratched his nose and laughed when he saw Iruka rolling his eyes at him. He didn't have to be totally honest, it wasn't like they were counting that Sasuke had beaten him 23 to 16 fights.
Okay so maybe he was just a little upset.
"I am a failure as a ninja, no wonder why Gai is still winning 79 to 78!" Kakashi said in half thought and hit his head against the table.
"Oookay." Naruto watched the silver figure hit it's head against the able a few more times.
"You would think that you were stronger after all of those A class missions." Iruka joked as he put some plates on the table.
"Thanks koi, you know exactly what to say." Kakashi joked back sarcastically.
"Um, you know if you two would like me to leave I bet I could go to Sakura's or Shikamaru's." Naruto said halfway blushing.
"Nonsense, you are staying here with me." Iruka stated as he left the table.
"Besides I think he has separation anxiety." Kakashi whispered across the table before an oven mitt hit him in the face.
"So three weeks?" Naruto went back to the thought of the jonin exam.
"You seem really surprised." Iruka put food on the table as he watched Naruto's expressions.
"Well its just that, is he ready? I have SEEN his chakra and it doesn't seem that big, its powerful but........."
"You should have more faith in your teammates." The silver chakra interrupted poking Naruto's nose with a chopstick.
"I do but......" Naruto frowned, it was stupid but he was just......
"Worried? Its understandable the jonin exams are very hard........." Iruka looked at the guys, "from what I hear anyway." The chunin pouted; of course they wouldn't take him serious if he hadn't taken the exam himself.
"Well didn't you used to help Sandaime set up for the exams because they only involve our country." Kakashi decided to cheer up his dolphin that, in return, blushed.
"Yeah but that was Sandaime, Godaime has a mind of her own and wont let anyone see the plans yet." Iruka frowned, "And she said I was annoying!" He acted almost hurt.
"Aww Iruka-sensei is getting picked on by the bully Hokage?" Naruto teased before he began to serve himself.
"She just thinks it annoying how you are so perfect that you can actually GET her to attend every meeting and she HARDLY gets times for naps anymore." Kakashi grinned and pulled his mask down.
"Anyway about training, don't you think you should start soon too?" Kakashi then noticed the blonde in front of him was staring over at him. Well if the blonde had his eyes open it would have looked like he was staring at him.
"What?"
"You took down your mask?" Naruto couldn't believe it, the one chance Kakashi takes his mask down and he had to be blind? Stupid luck.
"Um......how else would I eat?" Kakashi joked but before he knew it Naruto had reached across the table and had both of his hands on the jonin's face.
"Naru....." Iruka was really confused, what just happened? But now Naruto was grinning as he felt Kakashi's face.
"I guess you might be handsome so I approve." Naruto sat back down getting a dumbfounded look from both of his senseis.
"Approve for what?" Iruka had to ask.
"Your children!" Naruto grinned and started eating seeming to not notice how the other two had spat out their food.
"Wha......ma......da?" Iruka was bewildered and blushing like mad while Kakashi seemed to catch his cool back.
Naruto laughed as he finished his bowl of rice and beef. It wasn't everyday you could tease your favorites senseis.
"Well um......" Kakashi cleared his throat trying to change the subject, "Are you going to train?"
"Train?" Naruto thought about it for a moment, "Yeah I cant have Sasuke getting ahead of me you know. I still want to fight him."
"Really?" Kakashi answered more like stating a fact than a question but he still had to smile. Naruto would always consider and keep himself on par with Sasuke. Weakness or no weakness.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto furrowed his eyebrows as he heard the silver chakra chuckle. "I bet I could still beat him!"
Kakashi chuckled some more as he thought of the first day Naruto had beaten Sasuke, it was a totally fluke and thanks to a kunai gone haywire and lots of good aiming on Naruto's part the Uchiha had left training extremely angry that day.
Of course he had beaten the crap out of the blonde the next day back.
"Stop laughing or else I will shove this spoon up your........."
BAM.
Everyone stood up as they heard the door come crashing down and Naruto saw a green chakra fall into the living room.
"Dang it Neji I was just kidding!" Lee laughed at his friend that was standing where the door used to be.
"Lee?" Naruto looked over to see a very angry light blue chakra. So much for the homely presence that Iruka normally gave off.
"What is going on?" Iruka asked through clenched teeth. They had knocked down his door............his door that he had just finished changing the locks after Konohamaru thought it would be funny to put junk up in the keyholes.
"Ah.........Oh man! The door!" Lee jumped up and lifted the door up.
"You noticed that now?" Kakashi, Naruto, and Neji asked dumbfoundedly.
"Hehe gomen Iruka-sensei." Lee put his hand behind his head as he used the other to lean the door against the nearest wall.
"So why are you here anyway? Do you still have questions?" Naruto smiled over at the green and white chakra. Jiraiya was right when he had said that everything would be better when he told them everything because now he felt a lot of weight had lifted off of his shoulders. He didn't have to hide one more thing around his friends.
"Um.........actually I remembered you said that you were taking that special class this year and then Neji said I forgot to tell you that I was too so I came to tell you that." Lee stuck a thumbs up at Naruto before stopping realizing that maybe the blonde couldn't see it.
"I can see you Lee and your stupid thumbs up." Naruto grinned, "that is great! That way I can help you when you need help ne?"
"Hey! I am the one offering the help!" Lee argued back.
"No Lee, you should take his offer........." Neji stated in the background catching everyone by surprise.
"Neji you are so mean that is why you are my rival!" Lee shook his fist in the air as Naruto laughed.
"Neji is human! He made a joke!"
"Okay so I understand why Lee came but why you too Neji-kun?" Kakashi drooled out the kun part, oh how he loved to tease Gai's old students.
"I wanted to see if Naruto would like to have a small spar before we have guard duty." Neji stated still standing outside of the apartment.
"Wow guard duty two days in a row? What did you do to peeve off the old hag?" Naruto joked as he walked out of the kitchen.
"I volunteered." Neji stated emotionlessly earning a cough from Lee.
"Well then I accept your offer, we were just talking about training before you broke the door Lee." Naruto waved and left with Neji.
"Don't worry Iruka-sensei I shall fix your door!" Kakashi watched amusedly as Lee tried his hardest, the kid was a ninja not a repair man.
"Do you think he will be okay against Neji?" Iruka asked Kakashi with an expression of worry.
"Well obviously Neji wants to find out." Kakashi joked before patting Iruka on the back. "Don't worry Jiraiya said that Naruto could keep his own against him so that's a good sign."
"If you say so.........Lee don't do that!" Iruka ran over to save his door from the clutches of the azure beast of Konoha.
######
The sun was setting as everything grew darker, but Naruto wouldn't notice his small advantage.
Naruto groaned mentally as they reached the training field when he realized that at least half of his chakra was gone from that experience this morning. Well maybe since Neji liked close combat he wouldn't have to spread his chakra so far out.
"But then again I don't want to be close to him." Naruto whispered to himself as the white chakra began to stretch.
"Are you sure you are okay with this Naruto? I could always wa........."
"Yeah I am good, why? Are you afraid of being beaten by a blind guy?" Naruto snickered not realizing the frown he had just made on Neji's face.
"You are still really annoying." Neji sighed as he took his stance.
"And you are totally unprepared." Naruto snickered as he pulled his katana strap over his shoulder. He only took one when he had left Iruka's apartment, it wasn't like he was going to be fighting Jiraiya or anything............
"Am I?" Neji let a smirk grace his lips as he activated the Byukugan. "I know that you see with your chakra so you should try to give up before I seal up all your chakra points."
"Dang. I forgot he did that." Naruto cursed at himself before trying to think of another plan. Maybe he could still.........
"Well are we going to fight or just stand here?" Neji asked as he watched Naruto grin.
"Aw, but don't you like looking at my sexy self?" Naruto whined with a large grin.
"No I just thought it was unfair that you couldn't see how much cuter I am." Neji made his second joke that day catching the blonde off guard.
"You really changed." Naruto stated flatly as if he didn't really care but was surprised at the same time.
"Shut up and lets begin." Neji watched as Naruto vanished and quickly looked around to see three Naruto's were behind him.
Well Naruto had certainly gotten quicker and he still did bunshin no jutsu. Of course Neji had a new trick that he knew Naruto would enjoy.
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
And the fight began.
######
"So Naruto felt something different?" Jiraiya puffed on his pipe as he watched Tsunade sit on her bed.
"I never want to see him like that again Jiraiya.......it...."
"Broke your heart to see him that way? You should be glad you weren't with him when it dawned on him that he would never be able to see someone's face again or even a cloud. Or the time when the villagers died and he blamed himself for his weakness and then the other village and he blamed himself for his lack of control over the Kyubi. Then the time he first experienced the colors drowning him alive." Jiraiya watched as the woman in front of him tensed.
Then the old man smiled.
"But what you really missed was when his face would brighten up after he could use his senses beyond how any human could, when the village hired him as a babysitter and then even a teacher, how he laughed when the children made him touch the things they didn't believe he knew about, the day he took the seeing of chakra as a small gift instead of a curse. The way he smiles when he develops new techniques that is what you missed."
Tsunade smiled over at the old man, he always knew what to say to her to make her smile. Given he knew exactly what to say to make her mad but it was a moment like this she would forgive Jiraiya for anything he had done in the past.
"Thanks." She grinned as she looked out of her window not noticing how the white-haired man was now blushing furiously.
"Tsunade........." Jiraiya blushed even more when he realized he had her full attention again. "There is something I need to tell you........."
Why did he make that promise with Naruto? You tell your friends and I will tell Tsunade about.........
"I love you."
######
And I am ending it there..........Please don't hate me! I am sorry! It was getting really long! Like 18 pages! Lol
And for those of you who didn't get what the one condition was..........like my sister who read this before you (sighs)
Sasuke made Naruto wear his other cloths from the foreign village because he wanted Naruto to be comfortable. And he had noticed that the blond had seemed very uncomfortable in what he calls 'normal clothing for ninjas' so he made Naruto where the other clothing.
For those of you who put your minds in the gutters! Shame on you! And for those who thought of a better condition than me............please don't flame me I am stupid! Lol
Naruto also realized in this chapter that when he drops his guard the colors don't bother him in a crowd............but that's when he drops his guard, which a ninja isn't supposed to do.........
Let me think.........anything else I need to say?
Um.........hehehehe you will have to wait and see who won the fight between Naruto and Neji. You have to remember that Neji was severely injured in his battle with the sound ninja....he had a hole going threw his body!!! But he survived and had only taken the special class a year before. And yes he did learn Kage Bunshin no jutsu! (the one that makes real bodies anyway) That was actually something random I decided to add in but let me tell you even though its Naruto's favorite jutsu it is probably the worst to be used against him......but that will be explained later lol
Oh and Neji is a chunin. Tsunade gave him it without having to take the exams again and after he had taken the course. So he is a recent chunin.
I just thought that would make it easier on me......I know I am lazy but...
I am trying not to spoil anything! Argh!
Next chapter is actually going to be about what happened in the villages Naruto was at. A random place to put it but believe me it will work out. And I know some of you are dieing to know what really happened!
And that chapter is like thirty pages! I was going to divide it...and I might have to because of ff.net I don't know...but it's a long chapter so I hope you guys like it!
And yes Jiraiya just confessed his love to Tsunade because he had promised Naruto on their journey back to Konoha that if the blonde told his friends about his blindness that he would tell Tsunade his feelings.
Hahaha!
REPLIES TO REVIEWS!
Mystic-Hoshi : lol well I hope my chappies aren't too long! But I know that the next chappie about all of the villages is really long! Lol I just didn't want to divide it up! It is like 28 pages lol this chapter is like 17 haha sry!
Elie-3173: Is your name from Rave Master? I love that manga! I haven't seen the anime tho lol. Yeah poor Naruto...
Kyandisu: I am glad you found this ficcie on a whim lol! Thank you! I hope you keep reading this! Do you have glasses? Is that your eye problem? Haha I know how you feel if that is it! I think my eyes keep getting worse since I have gotten glasses lol! I hope you have a good summer!
RuByMoOn17: lol I just thought it would be really funny for Iruka to do that ya know? Lol Even though Iruka is so close to perfect! (heart heart) Haha I hope you liked this chappie!
Ssimiraitrks: Thank you!
Ria Sakazaki: Yeah Ino is stupid! Haha lol well I just really don't care for her or Sakura too much but I cant kill them off....yet lol jk jk I don't think I would do that to Naruto haha! Thank you!
Lynn Lee: YAY! (happy dance) Thank you! Lol surprisingly all of my friends thought I was weird to begin with ;; oh well heehee! KakaIru and SasuNaru are cool! It is really funny though because I came to ff.net I really hated Sasuke and I really hated SasuNAru...and now look at me! Lol ttyl!
Lightdragon1987: Thank you! Lol
Siobhn01: Lol I will tell you again jic (just in case lol) the one condition was to wear the cloths! I was going for something more realistic that Sasuke would ask and well that Sasuke would notice too! Yeah you will learn all about the little girl in the next chappie too! Lol I am happy no one has cried yet! Ciao
Dream Fox: Thank you! Lol I hope you liked this chappie as well!
The La/=/er: Lol! You had a brain fart? (as my little immature friends like to put it) Lol ! You petted? (is that a word?) my chapter! Lol (happy dances) yeah....i don't think they would ever get along lol unless they set up a mutual understanding of like 'I hate you and you hate me but if we are ordered to work together then fine' lol I know! I want to see what happens to everyone! I haven't even read 220 yet! My stupid comp! (cries) Wow you are really being nice here! (blushes) you are too kind! Haha! You reviews are always the longest too!
(cont'd) Yes Mr. I-am-the-perfect-sensei-and-role-model-and-I-look-good- doing-it! Was wrong lol.I think funniness is a word! Lol I put it on one of my English papers last year...of course I got like a D and my teacher still thinks I smoke crack lol SasuNaru cuteness and fluffiness! Haha Yes Kakashi is a lazy bum lol who would get his student to probably do EVERYTHING just so he could read his book (we know that is what he was really doing instead of waiting inline at the store lol) I am sorry! (bows) I will try to be nicer to the poor blonde boy! Lol who am I kidding? Haha well I hope you weren't too mad about where I ended this chappie lol
(cont'd lol) Honest Comment of the Day! That is cool! Lol Thankyou for that lol...and I just realized I put lol and a lot of !!! in your reply! Lol sorry and I hope you don't get a headache! Btw...I love you stories! They are so interesting and I really want to know why Naruto left! And what is everyone's reaction to him returning! He does return right? Right? (gets all bubbly eyed) right? Lol if you update your story I will update mine quicker! (come on I am trying to bribe you here! Lol ttyl!)
Aimi-chan: Lol well I guess my story is a little predictable but you'll see lol Have a great summer!
Duenna: Thank you!
Ookima: Lol of course I wont discontinue this ficcie unless I miraculously get to japan and become a mangaka or make my own animes! That would be so cool! (goes off to dreamland)
Japanime......(drools)
ErikKoekkoek: Ah! I didn't mean to make fun of your name! (okay maybe a little but I didn't know it was your real name) Agh! I feel horrible lol! Well my whole name(if I must tell you 'sigh') is Kara Virginia Leopard! I am named after a state and a cat! Lol well shonen-ai is like boys kissing and that's it pretty much lol I am glad you have stayed interested in this story! Btw I love your story! It is really interesting! (though my comp has been broken so I don't know if you have updated or not lol) I liked all of your chapters anyway lol I hope I corrected the jonins to jounins for you lol ciao!
Chibified kitsunes: I love your name btw. Yeah the next chappie is all about the two villages Naruto was at most of the time! It might be a little sad...and Naruto isn't himself at the beginning...I mean he finally realized it wasn't temporary that he couldn't see so yeah I would be depressed too lol...I hope you like it and its really long because I thought you guys would get upset if I divided it lol but I might have to due to ff.net but if I do I will post it at the same time lol
Ramen No Tenshi: lol So wait are you Sakura and Naruto or are they your muses? Lol cute btw
Sally11: well its not yaoi lol its shonen-ai (look at Eriks review reply) haha and it wont be too much cuz well...I still think I suck at all the romantic stuff lol thank you and I hope you continue reading this story!
Jennivah: Lol yeah though Naruto probably couldn't stand a chance against Jiraiya if they were really fighting...cuz I mean he IS and sanin and all...and I think Orochimaru even said that Jiraiya was stronger than him...but I don't remember where so I will look that up lol! I hope you liked this cliffie! Sry about that lol!
I HOPE YOU ARE ALL HAVING A GREAT CHAPTER AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!
