Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
A/N: Because I changed everything about chapter 2, I just reworked this and filled in where the old story was—if you read anything from the old story, or it doesn't make sense to you, please let me know!
Sasuke was running hard. He wasn't sure what he was going to tell the Hokage, and he was very scared of her reaction (the woman was so strong!) but he knew he had to speak to her.
The events of the morning were replaying in his head: why exactly had he gone over to Kiba's apartment anyway? It had been to make sure the boy was ok. He had been sleeping for almost three days, and when no one had heard from him, Sasuke just wanted to make sure Kiba was not dead. Instead of being able to check in on him, Kiba had to start shit. It was early in the morning and already there was a bone to pick.
Not that it hurt Sasuke's feelings, of course, but why was Kiba so ungrateful! After all, if he knew about what Sasuke had to go through—like the smell (oh god, the smell…) and the bath. The bath had made Sasuke very uncomfortable, but he couldn't put Kiba into his bed smelling like that. It would have been too cruel, and Sasuke's inner aristocrat scoffed at the thought of dirty sheets. Kiba had figured out that Sasuke had bathed him and it made Sasuke cringe a little on the inside. The dog boy was probably thinking untrue perverted things about Sasuke right now! But that hadn't been the way it went.
On the way to Kiba's house, Sasuke had runwith all the chakra he could. The smell of dog and sweat and who knows how many weeks of grime had almost been enough to make him pass out cold right alongside Kiba. How could Inuzuka live with himself, smelling like that? He had finally arrived, but stumbled with finding the correct key to Kiba's apartment. Each minute with that stench was a minute too many. It had been Sasuke's first intention just to drop Kiba and run home for his own shower, fearing a bit of the smell had rubbed off on him. However, he knew somewhere inside him that cruel, so he had gone into the bathroom, run a tub of water, picked up Kiba and dropped the boy, clothes and all, into the water.
The water had immediately turned a dark brown and Sasuke had known that he had no easy way out. He remembered pulling the soaking boy, who had felt twenty times heavier with the water, out. Sasuke's cheeks began to burn as he remembered what happened next.
He had sat down beside Kiba and, resigning himself by stating it was his duty to a fellow shinobi, began to undress him. Off came the vest, the leg holster, the jacket, the shirt, the shoes and the pants. When it came to the boxers, Sasuke had paused, not knowing if this was crossing some line. But, cool and collected, he had decided that he was a boy and Kiba didn't have anything he had not seen before. There were plenty of times Sasuke had seen Naruto naked before, like on missions when there was a common shower room or in the hot springs when Jiraiya peeked. Taking off the boxers, he had opened a window and hung the clothes to dry. The clothes still stunk, but Sasuke had felt he was already going above and beyond the call of duty.
Going back to the bathroom, he had picked up the nude Kiba and slowly lowered the boy into a fresh tub of water. This time, the water stayed reasonably clean. Not having done washed another person before, he had started with the hair, filling his hands with shampoo and slowly working it into the tangled mess that was Kiba's hair. His fingers had gotten stuck, so he rinsed all the shampoo out and grabbed a nearby comb. It had taken Sasuke over half an hour to comb out Kiba's hair, but it had become almost a mission in his mind. Thinking about it like that had made the entire bathing process easier. When the hair had finally been combed out (with clumps of it everywhere-- disgusting), Sasuke had begun to sponge off Kiba's body.
Sasuke knew at this point of remembering that day that his cheeks must be burning bright red. Mission for a fellow shinobi or not, remembering the actual sponging off of Kiba's body, of Kiba's entire body, made him feel wrong and perverted. Especially when, at one point, Kiba became…aroused in his sleep. Sasuke had been sponging off down there when Kiba's cock had begun to grow hard. At first Sasuke jerked away his hand, but he didn't stop looking. Sasuke remembered this part well because he had been impressed and even a little…intimidated by the size of Kiba's penis. While staring it at, Sasuke had reached his own hand down his pants, touching himself. He wasn't perverted! He just wanted to…to compare. But when Sasuke had also started to get aroused, he had stopped touching himself and had finished washing Kiba quickly, getting the boy in bed and working to not think about what had happened in the bathtub. When he had left, Sasuke had forgotten (or so he had told himself) all about the incident and instead was proud of himself for being so helpful.
This helped bring Sasuke back to his original line of thinking—ingratitude. Kiba should be fucking thankful for all he did, for he had gone out of his way to help Kiba when the boy had been down. Though it had only been Sasuke's intention to rile up Kiba because he was bored, when he had seen the state of the other boy's mental exhaustion, he had put up his dislike forKiba to help out a fellow ninja. And instead of getting thanked, the Inuzuka had to bring up his clan. His dead clan.
Sasuke was so absorbed in his thinking thoughts and anger that he failed to notice a piece of the fence moving along with him at his fast speed. Only when the piece of fence tripped on a rock and start flailing did Sasuke realize he had been followed. A loud bang! happened and in the dust a head with blonde hair peeked out.
"Naruto! Why are you following me?"
The noisy ninja laughed. "I was in the ramen shop eating and I saw you run by, blushing! I thought maybe you finally had an encounter with a lady (at this point Naruto winked repeatedly as if something was caught in his eye) and I wanted to see if you were heading to her! I wanna know who finally has Sasuke embarrassed! HAHA!"
"Baka, there is no girl, and I was not blushing. Now, if you don't mind, I have important business with the Hokage." With this, Sasuke turned and began to walk away. But Naruto was equally as stubborn as he was noisy, and he was not about to let this one slide. It was so rare one saw Sasuke distraught, and Naruto needed to know the source! He began to fall in stride with his teammate.
"No, you were definitely blushing. So who could it be…Ino? I never thought you would hook up with Ino, she is so…whiny? Or maybe Sakura! It had better not be Sakura, even though she stopped openly pining for you a year ago, if you screw with her, you'll screw with our team and then I will have to kick your ass. Not to mention, Sasuke, I hate to break it to you but we both know Sakura is secretly in love with me, and I don't want you hurt when she shoots you down! So who else could it be…" Naruto continued on, talking to himself, while Sasuke looked for ways to escape.
"…Tsunade for?"
"What?" Sasuke asked.
"What do you need to see Granny Tsunade for?
"Kiba and I were fighting and it got a little out of control."
Naruto's face scrunched in confusion, his 'whiskers' pulling close together. He was trying to put together Kiba, Akamaru and whatever girl had made Sasuke blush. What was Sauke even talking about?
"Were you fighting with Kiba over a girl?"
"Mind your own business, baka."
After Naruto had braved Orochimaru to save Sasuke, and Sasuke had finally begun to learn how much his teammate cared for and respected him, Naruto had been able to, on special occasions, tell Sasuke when he was being stupid and have Sasuke actually listen. Naruto hoped now was one of those special times. He grabbed Sasuke by the shoulders and whipped him around.
"Sasuke, listen to me. I haven't been a good friend to you in the past months. I know you have been stuck in Konoha. I know you don't feel like you are trusted by anyone, and to be honest, you aren't trusted by most people. I know you have probably been bored with being trapped hereand you'refrustrated because you aren't out looking for your brother (Sasuke's face turned to stone) but…if you are fighting with fellow shinobi, you will get kicked out of Konoha. Because of your past, there is no tolerance for you to mess up. Don't be a fucking idiot."
Naruto tooka deep breath. He talked a lot, and he talked all the time, but it took a lot out of him to confront Sasuke, especially about Sasuke doing something stupid. Sasuke knew Naruto was right and Naruto could see he was right in the other boy's eyes, but the look on Sasuke's face was the stubborn one and Naruto knew Sasuke wouldn't change his mind.
"Fine, go talk to Granny. But if you get kicked out and I have to join a new team, I will hunt you down and kick your ass!"
Naruto dashed off and Sasuke was left with too many thoughts and conversations flowing through his head. Of course Naruto was right, and he knew it, but it was a little too late. People were already hurt and Sasuke needed to confront the consequences of his actions.
The loud pounding on her office door so early in the morning had been an unpleasant surprise for Tsunade. When she had finally answered, she found an out of breath Kiba dressed in what looked like (and smelled like) his mission clothing with Akamaru by his side. But instead of stating his purpose, the boy froze in fear, staring at her. He obviously needed to tell her something but just wasn't ready yet. Since it was early and Tsunade was not ready for whatever had Kiba so stirred up, she left him outside her door, closing it in his face. He would knock again when he was ready.
Then again, after returning to her office she realized his coming was probably for the best. Kurenai had made some interesting remarks regarding Kiba's ego and "misunderstanding" of what it meant to be part of a team. Tsunade knew Kiba had a hard time competing for attention against the other boys of the village. With Shikamaru being so smart, and Sasuke being so incredibly talented, and Naruto being so, well… Naruto, Kiba's own talents were often overlooked. However, that was no excuse for forgetting that teamwork relied on everyone within the group, not just a leader or an individual. There were so many things the chuunin still had to learn.
Loud voices interrupted the Hokage's thoughts. Two young men were arguing outside of her door, their voices raised in anger, and there was a dog barking. She got up and walked to the door. Though she couldn't understand what was being said, she recognized the voices—Kiba, Akamaru and Sasuke. It didn't take much to realize that this was why Kiba had shown up disheveled at her door. Damn. Tsunade sighed as she opened the door.
"There was a misunderstanding." Sasuke stated in his calm, typical way, even though she had just heard him yelling through her door.
"You insulted my whole family!" Kiba yelled.
"You attacked me with chakra, instead of normal sparring!"
"YOU USED CHIDORI AGAINST ME!"
"ENOUGH!" Tsunade's voice boomed over the other two as her fist slammed into her door. Unfortunately, she slammed it too hard and shattered it into tiny wood fragments that fell to everyone's feet. Though she was distressed about the need to get yet another door (she really did need to keep a check on her strength…) the Hokage was at least glad to have gotten their attention. Akamaru whimpered.
"Would you two please step into my office? Kiba, your pet needs to remain outside." Kiba did not look pleased, but he stuttered the command for the dog to stay.
Kiba and Sasuke looked at each other in mutual fright, and it seemed to be the first thing they were agreeing on. Either way, there was no turning back and so they shyly stepped into her office, being wise and keeping their eyes on the floor. Tsunade waited until she was sitting behind her desk before she calmly asked, "Now Sasuke, what is this all about?"
Now that he was standing in front of her, Sasuke felt awkward and very, very stupid, two emotions he was not used to. Every way he had thought of to explain the fight had sounded childish, and it was his last desire to come off as immature in front of the Hokage. After all, he wanted nothing more than to gain her trust so that she would actually let him start doing real missions. Still, seeing her eyeing him let him know he needed to say something, and soon. Keeping his face in his typical cool, stoic way he managed to talk.
"As I am sure you know, a couple of days ago Kiba's team returned home from mission. Kiba was stumbling around and I watched him to make sure he was not hurt. Kiba passed out cold on the road, so I carried him to his house. This morning, when I showed up to see how he was doing, he picked a fight with me. When we were outside, he attacked me. And he set off an explosive tag in the village. I was forced to use chidori to defend myself. It got out of control and I think a few villagers may have been hurt." Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets, looking controlled.
Tsunade's eyes grew wide with anger and disbelief.
Kiba's exterior did not mimic Sasuke's—his body was rigid and his face red. Even Tsunade could hear him grinding his teeth together and she noticed his hands were bleeding, clenched so hard his claws had dug into his palms.
"Sasuke, let me get this straight. You and Kiba had a fight and innocent bystanders 'may' have been hurt?"
"Hn."
BANG! Again, Tsunade slammed her fists, this time into the desk. She watched her strength so the desk did not break, but the noise let the two boys know they were in deep shit.
"This… this is unacceptable behavior for two of leaf's chuunin. As ninja's of this village, you have an obligation to set a good example of behavior for the villagers and younger ninjas. You should be able to handle your disagreements in a mature manor. Fighting is not mature and had you two just been fighting, I might have stuck you with some community service or something. But. You both crossed a serious line when you put citizens of Konoha at risk with your fighting. I am telling you now that if anyone died, you are both exiled. However, I think I would have heard about it by now, so we are going to assume there are just minor injuries. Still, Kiba, for you to use explosives in the village—you are too smart for that and I still don't understand what you were thinking. I am going to assume you were thinking fast because, and this leads me to my second point, Sasuke should not have been using Chidori against a fellow shinobi. Ever. That is not a defensive move, Sasuke, and I don't care what drove you to use it, but if I ever hear about you using it against another Leaf, so help me, I will hurt you. "
Tsunade stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. Kiba and Sasuke both looked thoroughly ashamed. Still, she did not think it was enough to just admonish them. Something more needed to be done, something drastic to take them both down a few notches.
"As of now, you are both demoted from chuunin. You now carry the title of genin. The boys looked like they wanted to protest, but she held her hand up to silence them. Don't argue with me, or I will stick you back in the academy and you can sit with Iruka throughout his classes. Because you are now genin, you will accompany the chuunin Naruto this made them grimace and Sakura to the Village of Mist and help them complete a mission I will give to them. You are their subordinates and only when they deem you ready will I re-promote you to chuunin.
" I am finished and you may leave. Report tomorrow to the front gate at 8 in the morning, ready to be on the road for several months."
There was no room to argue as the Hokage's face made it plain as day they were to exit immediately or face a level of wrath neither boy could comprehend, so they turned and exited as quickly as possible.
Outside, the young men sat beside each other on a step, their faces contorted with confusion. Akamaru was curled at Kiba's feet.
"Sasuke, you used chidori against me. It is a ninjitsus meant to kill in one shot…why?"
"You shouldn't have brought up my family."
"Is it a double standard, then? You, so high and mighty, can say whatever you wish, make whoever you wish look like a fool, but if anyone retaliates, you KILL THEM?"
"You could never understand, baka." Sasuke got up and began to walk away.
But not before he heard Kiba whisper, "I can't understand what monster would kill a fellow ninja."