Betrothal
A Naruto fanfiction.
Chapter 10 - Goals
They stayed there for several moments, frozen like two statues hidden away in some tidy little corner of a museum. No-one saw them, no-one heard them, no-one knew of their kiss.
Naruto stared, wide eyed, into the dark slate grey eyes of the girl that was now pulling away from him. He could still feel the almost electric tingle on his lips where they had touched Temari's. Granted, it was quite a pathetic thing as kisses went - it was just a step or two above a quick peck on the lips.
Still. wow. Just. wow.
This had been Naruto's first kiss. Well, first kiss with a girl anyway - not that he believed that on little accident with Sasuke counted because it had never been intentional, but still.
Temari smiled at him slightly, barely a slight twitching at the corners of her mouth. Then, with all the grace of a collapsing tree, she pitched forward and fainted into Naruto's arms.
The young male genin, of course, blinked a few times in confusion before turning the older girl around and lifting up one eyelid. All ninja knew that the eye was perhaps the only thing that could give away almost any attempt at feigning unconsciousness.
According to Temari's eye, she was either very, very good or she was actually unconscious.
Fortunately, Naruto knew exactly what to do in such a situation. Pulling himself to his feet, he squatted down and slid his hands under Temari. Then, with a grunt of effort he lifted the larger girl into the air and quickly kicked the door open before scooting though it - being careful not to knock temari's head against the doorframe.
"Iruka-sensei!" He yelled, "Kakashi-senseeei!" he added, also in a yell. "Sakura-chaaaan! Someone! Help!"
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Iruka, who had reacted the moment he had seen the unconscious Temari, sat in the small hospital room with Naruto. The room was like any hospital room, white, white and more white any sort of color was obviously discouraged here, and Naruto kept getting the occasional disapproving stare over the color of his outfit.
"You see Naruto, apparently she was being treated with some particularly strong medicines." Explained Iruka, "It was like she was really drunk, so it's no wonder that she collapsed just like she did. Of course, if they had told me she was on those medicines I wouldn't have let her out."
"Oh." Naruto stared at the floor between his feet. Granted, it was nice that Temari hadn't fainted for any particularly serious reason but. Well. He knew what 'drunk' meant. Sort of. It meant that people did what they wouldn't do normally.
And Temari had kissed him.
Whilst being the medicinal equivalent of 'drunk'.
Which meant that, if she were normal, she would have never kissed him. Ever.
Iruka peered over at his ex-student and frowned slightly. "You look down, did something happen?" He asked, not expecting violent reaction.
"No! NO! Nothing happened!" Naruto yelled, jumping up from his seat hard enough to send the cheap plastic chair flying back behind him. "Nothing at all!" He half-screamed, before spinning on the spot and launching himself into a full-tilt dash past several surprised trainee medical-nin.
"Ah. I see something did happen then." Murmured the chuunin as he watched Naruto's escape.
"Yeah, and quite amusing it was to watch too." Came a slightly muffled voice, causing Iruka to spin in his seat to look at the speaker.
"And just why are you here Kakashi? Spying on me again?" He demanded, glaring at the mask-covered face of the famous copy-ninja. The aforementioned jounin smiled - or at least it looked like he was smiling under his mask. His one visible eye was in a little happy curve, so he probably was smiling at least.
"Awww. come now, you know I don't do that anymore." He paused and thought for a moment, "It was only to keep in practice anyway."
"You spied on me while I was in the shower!" Iruka hissed, glancing around to make sure no-one heard. "That sounds like more than 'keeping in practice' to me!"
"I don't know why you're making such a fuss of it Iruka, I did do the same thing to Anko-san as well you know." Kakashi grinned under his mask. "I would have peeped in on Yuuhi-san as well, but you know how angry she got when she last caught me peeping."
"Oh yes," Grumbled the chuunin, "I heard that you almost ended up somewhat less of a man due to that. Heh. She always was a crack shot with a kunai - even when she was a genin."
"Jealous Iruka?" Asked the grey-haired man. "You are the only one from your year who didn't pass the jounin exam."
The scarred man twitched in his seat, as if uncomfortable, for a short while. "A little I guess. Yuuhi was the youngest in our year and she still made it through. Some of the other guys still make it a point to drive home their rank whenever we see each other." Lifting his head, Iruka stared at the ceiling, "I suppose I could take it again, but there's so much work to do with the current academy class, I just don't have the time."
Kakashi, however, grinned.
It wasn't a particularly nice grin either, in fact, the sheer aura of meanness that the grin radiated was enough to be felt by Iruka.
"Well now, I think I have a little proposition for you then." He began.
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Naruto sat in his favorite spot at one of the many ramen stands that he frequented. This one was little more than a wooden cart with a pull-out covering and a few small chairs and tables set out in front of it. Naruto's favorite spot, needless to say, was on one of the chairs that was mounted on the side of the cart - up against the counter itself.
"Beef Ramen please," He muttered, "A small one. I don't feel too hungry." This simple statement caused both the cart owner and his asistant to freeze in their tracks and stare, incredulously, at Naruto. After all, for as long as they had known him, he'd never ordered anything other than the deluxe super-large size bowls of ramen.
"Ah. you sure kid?" Prompted the owner, "Only, that ain't your usual size."
"I'm sure." Replied Naruto as he slumped over the counter, his voice sounding low and depressed. At the other end of the counter a blond head perked up as it's owner recognized the depressive voice.
"Well, if you say so kid. Can't argue with our best customer! Ahaha!" The Owner laughed for a moment before turning around to prepare Naruto's order.
The blonde scooted a few seats closer to Naruto, dragging her medium-sized bowel of ramen along as she did so. "Sooooo.." She began, turning to glance at him out of the corner of her eyes, her one long bang that hung in front of her face bouncing around as she moved. "What's made you depressed, the number one hyper ninja?"
Ino had never talked to Naruto before. Heck, she'd never really looked at him before the chuunin exam. Now, however, he had information she wanted, making it a necessity to speak to him. Naturally, the best way to guide him into revealing what she wanted to know was to begin with small talk - then a few subtle prompts and. well. hopefully he wouldn't even notice he'd just been interrogated.
Naruto glanced at the blond-haired member of team ten. "What do you want Ino?" He asked, sounding somewhat sulky. "If you want to know where Sasuke is, I have no idea."
Sasuke. Sasuke. Did everyone think her life revolved around the last Uchiha? Well. Okay, so maybe it did, but that still wasn't reason for everyone to immediately assume that whatever she asked was going to be about Sasuke!
Even if he was such a hunk.
With such beautiful, yet sometimes scary, eyes. Like pearls.
Pearls? No, that was wrong, pearls were white - Sasuke's eyes were red.
Like. rubies. Or blood. Roses maybe.
"I wasn't going to ask about Sasuke." Ino replied, a faint blush coming to her cheeks from all those thoughts about Sasuke - and pearls for some reason.
"Oh. Well. That's. different I guess." Mumbled the blonde-haired boy. "All the girls ever talk about is Sasuke this, Sasuke that." He frowned, staring at the waxed wood of the cart's counter. "While I'm just the fall guy." A small bowl of ramen suddenly filled his view and Naruto looked up even as he grabbed the wooden chopsticks that had been supplied with it. "Thanks," He murmured to the owner.
"Huh?" Ino glared at Naruto for a moment before shrugging to herself. "Well, he is much prettier than you are, and better behaved, and smarter." Ino would have continued had Naruto not cut her off.
"He's also a cold-hearted jerk, he's weaker than I am yet won't admit anyone could possibly be better than he is, he never lets anyone get close to him and yet he gets all the damn attention!" Naruto slammed one fist on the table, causing his bowl to jump and splash a little ramen onto the counter. "And. and. and I get an arranged marriage to someone because the village doesn't care if she turns out to be a spy or an assassin and I get killed because of it!"
Ino backed away at Naruto's anger. For a moment there, she could have sworn that his eyes looked almost. demonic. No, no. There they were, his usual - albeit angry - blue eyes. Still. if that was how he felt then he did have a reason to be angry. "So, no-one cares about you?" She asked, fishing for the one piece of information she wanted.
"Iruka-sensei does." Came the reply, "Why the hell am I telling you this anyway? It's not like you care."
Frowning Ino sighed to herself. Perhaps Naruto wasn't as dumb as she still thought he was. Well, she could tell him why right now. or she could give him some evasive answer or even an outright lie. No. No. An evasive answer would be best, one she could twist into a question even. "What would you do," She began, "If you found out that there was a girl in the village who liked you? Maybe even had a crush on you?"
"Quit it." Naruto half-snarled, "I'm not in the mood to be teased." Then he looked down at his reflection in the watery parts of his meal. "Besides, it wouldn't matter if anyone did like me - I'm engaged, remember? I'm pretty sure we told you about it."
"And. you're not going to fight it? You'd fight anything else." Prompted the blonde-haired girl. "After all, you're the guy who never gives up, right?"
"Because." Naruto gulped and closed his eyes. "Because I don't want to fight it." Opening his eyes again he glanced at Ino. "I don't know why I'm telling you this. because I have to tell someone I guess - I feel like I'll explode if I don't. but. I like Temari."
There was a pause as Ino stared at the boy she was talking to. "What?" She asked, her voice sounding more than a little shocked.
"I like Temari." Naruto stated once more. "There. I said it. I like her."
Ino just continued to stare. "I don't believe you." She muttered, "Then again. you are the number one surprising ninja, aren't you?" With that, she slapped a few small notes and coins down to pay for her meal and hopped off of her chair. "Well," she stated, keeping her gaze off of his face. "Have a good day, I guess."
". Yeah. A good day." Snorted Naruto as she left. "Well, I guess there's still enough time left for something good to happen today."
Smiling to himself Naruto looked up from his bowl of Ramen. "Oi!" He yelled, "One super large Prawn ramen and one medium prawn to go!"
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"That." Began Iruka, "Is the most evil, depraved and torturous idea I have ever heard."
"Isn't it just?" Replied Kakashi as the two of them imagined the scenes of chaos such an idea would cause. "And it would give you free time to train and. well. You know what's coming up. Six weeks after the Chuunin exam, just like it is every year."
His chuunin companion nodded somberly. "The jounin exam." He muttered. "I'd almost forgotten how much I had wanted to become a jounin when I was a kid."
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Iruka sat and glared at the crummy old man that everyone called the Third Hokage. His arms were cross and the scar across his nose was still somewhat dark - it had been almost a year since he had received it now and yet it still hadn't gotten lighter like the medical-nin had said it would. After a while they had begun asking if he wanted them to remove - or at least hide - the scar with their techniques.
Naturally he had told them to bugger off. The scar, he said, was his way of remembering the parents who had died in preventing him from getting any worse when the Kyuubi had attacked the village a year ago.
"Back again Iruka?" The Third asked, peering down his long nose at the scruffy black-haired boy before him. "What for this time? Let me just see here." The Third glanced down at his desk and began to shuffle a few papers around to find the exact report he had received from Iruka's sensei.
"I smoked out the academy." The boy muttered, moments before the Hokage found the report in his stack of papers. "I dumped wet hay in the basement and set fire to it, got the whole place evacuated."
"I. see." Sighing to himself, the older man placed the report back down on his desk and looked at Iruka. "Was there any particular reason that you decided to do such a." He was going to say 'amusing' but really, he had an image to keep, ". dreadful thing?"
"Makino-sensei said that I'd never be able to become a jounin, ever." Grumbled the sulking genin that was the young Iruka.
"So, you believed that filling the academy with smoke was a suitable response then?" Asked the leader of the village.
"She can't tell me that I can't become a jounin." Iruka glared at the Hokage with tears forming in the corner of his eyes. "I heard my parents talking about how proud they would be if I became a jounin - I heard them before. before." His voice cracked and he dropped his head, tears streaming from his eyes. "Before. before they were killed. I. I want to be what they wanted me to be, I want them to be proud of me!"
"Iruka," Began the Third, "I know what your parents were like. They would be proud of you no matter what you became - jounin, ANBU, instructor, medic. they would be proud, simply because you're their son." He smiled, a small crooked smile on a face with enough wrinkles to put a prune to shame. "You may go now."
Iruka stood up and walked towards the door, wiping his face with the sleeve of his shirt as he went. It just wouldn't do to be seen crying outside - not with bullies like Tokurou and Bakura hanging around. Granted, those two had passed the academy exam last year, but they always felt like coming back to torment some of their old bullying victims. Like himself for instance.
"Ah, Iruka." The Hokage called out, moments before Iruka opened the door to the office. "One last thing. Why did you claim that young Kurenai wasn't involved? I do have a reliable witness who says that you were both in on the incident."
The black haired boy paused and drooped his head for a moment. "She's smart," he replied, "she shouldn't have to have her reputation wrecked because of something that I planned and did."
The third merely smiled, knowing that Iruka couldn't see his features. "I see. You may leave now."
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"I guess I did take his words to heart in the end." Continued Iruka, "Besides, I felt happy teaching all the children. But." He looked at Kakashi and smiled a wry little smile. "I guess, seeing Naruto stride towards his goal. I guess it made me think about my own goal."
Kakashi nodded. "You'd need training, tough training - but you'd probably squeeze through as you are now. Personally, I think you should go for training, after all, in the jounin exam everyone needs all the help they can get."
"What will Naruto think?" The scarred chuunin asked himself. "I guess. I guess I do want his approval in this."
The copy-ninja raised his single visible eyebrow. "Oh?" he asked, "Why?"
Iruka smiled to himself and stared up at the ceiling. "Naruto. I guess you could say he's like a younger brother to me now, I wouldn't want to go into something this crazy without knowing how he felt about it."
"Yeah, well." Kakashi glanced towards the door for a moment and saw a jounin he knew making a few discreet hand signals. "Well, I have to go - got to do a little shopping you know?"
"Just don't load up on dirty books like last time, If I'm going to do this I won't have time to provide you with meals every other day." Grumbled Iruka.
"Heh, have I ever let anyone down before?" Kakashi asked as he prepared to leave."
"Yes." Came the reply, as the copy-ninja was just about to leave the room. Shrugging, the masked man stepped outside and vanished in a blur of movement.
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Naruto was racing back to the hospital. Not that long ago his sometimes sensei, the pervert sennin Jiraiya had approached him and informed the young genin that the two of them were going to be heading out on a little trip.
On the one hand he was excited, yet on the other he was somewhat depressed at the thought of leaving Temari to wake up without him present again. Well. maybe she'd be awake by the time he returned to the hospital.
Speeding up slightly, Naruto bounced along from rooftop to rooftop, mentally replaying the kiss in his mind. Would Temari even remember that she'd kissed him?
Knowing his luck, probably not.
As he bounced from place to place - occasionally rebounding off of a wall if no available landing spot presented itself - the young fox-like boy stayed quite deep in thought. So deep, in fact, that he never noticed Iruka until the older man grabbed him by the back of his orange jumpsuit.
"Naruto!" He exclaimed, "Just the person I wanted to talk to!"
In the grip of his ex-teacher, Naruto squirmed about like a fish on the end of a hook. "What do you want!" He wailed, "I haven't done anything!"
Iruka blinked and narrowed his eyes. Obviously Naruto had done something to deny it so quickly. Well, it could be forgotten this time - there were more important things to talk about.
"You're. not in trouble Naruto," he began, "I just. I guess I just wanted your opinion on something."
This, to the blonde-haired genin, was unusual. Most unusual in fact. "My. opinion?" he asked, "What for? What on? Why mine?"
"Naruto." Iruka sat down on the edge of the building the two stood upon and dangled his legs over the edge of the roof. "In a few weeks time there's going to be an. event, one that I hope to participate in. I. I guess I'm just asking for your approval over my going to this event."
"Naaaa." The blonde genin looked at his ex-teacher and frowned. "What event is it?" He asked after a few moments thought, slightly stunned that Iruka of all people would want his approval!
The academy teacher glanced at Naruto for a moment, then looked out towards the edge of the village.
"The jounin exam." He said at last, causing Naruto to jump to his feet in shock.
"You're kidding!" exclaimed the boy, "You. a jounin?"
"Yeah it is a strange thing but." Iruka sighed. "Way back, when I was about your age, becoming a jounin was my goal - I wanted to become a jounin to make the spirits of my parents proud."
"Why. why didn't you?" Iruka paid no attention to the question Naruto asked, he'd known that the boy was going to ask it anyway.
"I guess, I learnt that my parents would have been proud of me regardless of what I became - as long as I was happy really." He smiled and looked at Naruto, his eyes shut and his face covered with a grin. "I never would have taught you if I became a jounin, so I guess I'm glad about that. You've. grown. You've grown into a fine young man. One that, I feel, your parents would be proud of - even if you never get past this point they'll be proud."
"Iruka-sensei." Naruto began. "If you become a jounin then I'll. I'll. I'll treat you to Ramen!"
Iruka threw his head back and laughed, "I take it that's a yes then!" He exclaimed, slipping down from his seat onto the ledge below. "Well, in that case - I'd better go start training." He grinned, "I don't want to miss that ramen you've promised after all!"
With that, the two nodded at each other and bounced away - one to train, the other to say goodbye to a certain girl with sandy hair.
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"You're going?" During his absence Temari had awoken. This time, however, she felt no real need to chase Naruto down. Mostly because she didn't want to faint and end up in hospital again.
"Pervert-sensei said that he would teach me some stuff as we went." Naruto smiled at his fiancee, causing the older girl to blush ever so slightly - though she wasn't quite sure why exactly. "I guess maybe the girls got wise to his peeping habits and he just wants to go somewhere else for a while. Until they stop trying to kill him on sight anyway."
"Well." Temari stared at the sheets of her bed for a few moments, her face in a slight frown. "I guess I should give you something to make sure you come back in one piece then, right?"
Naruto blinked at her statement. "Give me something? What? A weapon? A scroll?" The boy practically bounced on his seat as the mental images of weapons and scrolls wandered lazily through his head.
"No. neither of those." Came the reply, "Just close your eyes."
"Okay. if you say so." Naruto said, pouting for a moment before his eyes were completely closed.
Within the dark space behind his eyelids, Naruto heard the rustling of cloth - obviously Temari was moving to give him his gift. Suddenly, without warning, something soft brushed against his cheek - something soft and warm.
A kiss.
"When you come back," he heard Temari say, "You'll get a matching one on the other side. Now, just, hurry up! Before that pervert guy leaves without you!"
'And before,' she added mentally, 'before you see me start to cry.'
Chapter 10 - Ended.
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Authors notes -
Well. This was. a miracle. That's what it was. And I'm not just talking about how fast it came out either.
I'm not gonna claim even the slightest bit of responsibility for this chapter as, frankly, I had no intention of it coming out this way. it just seemed to write itself o.O;
And it wrote itself pretty damn fast too. ^^;; I dunno. Maybe my subconscious mind is trying to tell me something?
'Drink more coffee' probably.
Aaanyway, enjoy this chapter and, just so you know, the trip Naruto is heading off on is the trip to find Tsunade that occurs in the manga (not much is gonna change there, the fic will concentrate on those left behind while Naruto's away)
As to Iruka. well. It just seemed to make sense to me at the time, that's all o.o;; I figure that he came from the same genin year as Yuuhi (the team 8 jounin instructor) and that there was a jounin exam shortly before the beginning of the manga. He failed, but those of his age group ended up passing.
That or he failed one much earlier and then abstained from the next ones, whilst others from his year went into and passed 'em.
Well. See you next chapter I guess.
- Lackey H - Wondering if Icha Icha paradise has illustrations or not.
Chapter 10 - Goals
They stayed there for several moments, frozen like two statues hidden away in some tidy little corner of a museum. No-one saw them, no-one heard them, no-one knew of their kiss.
Naruto stared, wide eyed, into the dark slate grey eyes of the girl that was now pulling away from him. He could still feel the almost electric tingle on his lips where they had touched Temari's. Granted, it was quite a pathetic thing as kisses went - it was just a step or two above a quick peck on the lips.
Still. wow. Just. wow.
This had been Naruto's first kiss. Well, first kiss with a girl anyway - not that he believed that on little accident with Sasuke counted because it had never been intentional, but still.
Temari smiled at him slightly, barely a slight twitching at the corners of her mouth. Then, with all the grace of a collapsing tree, she pitched forward and fainted into Naruto's arms.
The young male genin, of course, blinked a few times in confusion before turning the older girl around and lifting up one eyelid. All ninja knew that the eye was perhaps the only thing that could give away almost any attempt at feigning unconsciousness.
According to Temari's eye, she was either very, very good or she was actually unconscious.
Fortunately, Naruto knew exactly what to do in such a situation. Pulling himself to his feet, he squatted down and slid his hands under Temari. Then, with a grunt of effort he lifted the larger girl into the air and quickly kicked the door open before scooting though it - being careful not to knock temari's head against the doorframe.
"Iruka-sensei!" He yelled, "Kakashi-senseeei!" he added, also in a yell. "Sakura-chaaaan! Someone! Help!"
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Iruka, who had reacted the moment he had seen the unconscious Temari, sat in the small hospital room with Naruto. The room was like any hospital room, white, white and more white any sort of color was obviously discouraged here, and Naruto kept getting the occasional disapproving stare over the color of his outfit.
"You see Naruto, apparently she was being treated with some particularly strong medicines." Explained Iruka, "It was like she was really drunk, so it's no wonder that she collapsed just like she did. Of course, if they had told me she was on those medicines I wouldn't have let her out."
"Oh." Naruto stared at the floor between his feet. Granted, it was nice that Temari hadn't fainted for any particularly serious reason but. Well. He knew what 'drunk' meant. Sort of. It meant that people did what they wouldn't do normally.
And Temari had kissed him.
Whilst being the medicinal equivalent of 'drunk'.
Which meant that, if she were normal, she would have never kissed him. Ever.
Iruka peered over at his ex-student and frowned slightly. "You look down, did something happen?" He asked, not expecting violent reaction.
"No! NO! Nothing happened!" Naruto yelled, jumping up from his seat hard enough to send the cheap plastic chair flying back behind him. "Nothing at all!" He half-screamed, before spinning on the spot and launching himself into a full-tilt dash past several surprised trainee medical-nin.
"Ah. I see something did happen then." Murmured the chuunin as he watched Naruto's escape.
"Yeah, and quite amusing it was to watch too." Came a slightly muffled voice, causing Iruka to spin in his seat to look at the speaker.
"And just why are you here Kakashi? Spying on me again?" He demanded, glaring at the mask-covered face of the famous copy-ninja. The aforementioned jounin smiled - or at least it looked like he was smiling under his mask. His one visible eye was in a little happy curve, so he probably was smiling at least.
"Awww. come now, you know I don't do that anymore." He paused and thought for a moment, "It was only to keep in practice anyway."
"You spied on me while I was in the shower!" Iruka hissed, glancing around to make sure no-one heard. "That sounds like more than 'keeping in practice' to me!"
"I don't know why you're making such a fuss of it Iruka, I did do the same thing to Anko-san as well you know." Kakashi grinned under his mask. "I would have peeped in on Yuuhi-san as well, but you know how angry she got when she last caught me peeping."
"Oh yes," Grumbled the chuunin, "I heard that you almost ended up somewhat less of a man due to that. Heh. She always was a crack shot with a kunai - even when she was a genin."
"Jealous Iruka?" Asked the grey-haired man. "You are the only one from your year who didn't pass the jounin exam."
The scarred man twitched in his seat, as if uncomfortable, for a short while. "A little I guess. Yuuhi was the youngest in our year and she still made it through. Some of the other guys still make it a point to drive home their rank whenever we see each other." Lifting his head, Iruka stared at the ceiling, "I suppose I could take it again, but there's so much work to do with the current academy class, I just don't have the time."
Kakashi, however, grinned.
It wasn't a particularly nice grin either, in fact, the sheer aura of meanness that the grin radiated was enough to be felt by Iruka.
"Well now, I think I have a little proposition for you then." He began.
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Naruto sat in his favorite spot at one of the many ramen stands that he frequented. This one was little more than a wooden cart with a pull-out covering and a few small chairs and tables set out in front of it. Naruto's favorite spot, needless to say, was on one of the chairs that was mounted on the side of the cart - up against the counter itself.
"Beef Ramen please," He muttered, "A small one. I don't feel too hungry." This simple statement caused both the cart owner and his asistant to freeze in their tracks and stare, incredulously, at Naruto. After all, for as long as they had known him, he'd never ordered anything other than the deluxe super-large size bowls of ramen.
"Ah. you sure kid?" Prompted the owner, "Only, that ain't your usual size."
"I'm sure." Replied Naruto as he slumped over the counter, his voice sounding low and depressed. At the other end of the counter a blond head perked up as it's owner recognized the depressive voice.
"Well, if you say so kid. Can't argue with our best customer! Ahaha!" The Owner laughed for a moment before turning around to prepare Naruto's order.
The blonde scooted a few seats closer to Naruto, dragging her medium-sized bowel of ramen along as she did so. "Sooooo.." She began, turning to glance at him out of the corner of her eyes, her one long bang that hung in front of her face bouncing around as she moved. "What's made you depressed, the number one hyper ninja?"
Ino had never talked to Naruto before. Heck, she'd never really looked at him before the chuunin exam. Now, however, he had information she wanted, making it a necessity to speak to him. Naturally, the best way to guide him into revealing what she wanted to know was to begin with small talk - then a few subtle prompts and. well. hopefully he wouldn't even notice he'd just been interrogated.
Naruto glanced at the blond-haired member of team ten. "What do you want Ino?" He asked, sounding somewhat sulky. "If you want to know where Sasuke is, I have no idea."
Sasuke. Sasuke. Did everyone think her life revolved around the last Uchiha? Well. Okay, so maybe it did, but that still wasn't reason for everyone to immediately assume that whatever she asked was going to be about Sasuke!
Even if he was such a hunk.
With such beautiful, yet sometimes scary, eyes. Like pearls.
Pearls? No, that was wrong, pearls were white - Sasuke's eyes were red.
Like. rubies. Or blood. Roses maybe.
"I wasn't going to ask about Sasuke." Ino replied, a faint blush coming to her cheeks from all those thoughts about Sasuke - and pearls for some reason.
"Oh. Well. That's. different I guess." Mumbled the blonde-haired boy. "All the girls ever talk about is Sasuke this, Sasuke that." He frowned, staring at the waxed wood of the cart's counter. "While I'm just the fall guy." A small bowl of ramen suddenly filled his view and Naruto looked up even as he grabbed the wooden chopsticks that had been supplied with it. "Thanks," He murmured to the owner.
"Huh?" Ino glared at Naruto for a moment before shrugging to herself. "Well, he is much prettier than you are, and better behaved, and smarter." Ino would have continued had Naruto not cut her off.
"He's also a cold-hearted jerk, he's weaker than I am yet won't admit anyone could possibly be better than he is, he never lets anyone get close to him and yet he gets all the damn attention!" Naruto slammed one fist on the table, causing his bowl to jump and splash a little ramen onto the counter. "And. and. and I get an arranged marriage to someone because the village doesn't care if she turns out to be a spy or an assassin and I get killed because of it!"
Ino backed away at Naruto's anger. For a moment there, she could have sworn that his eyes looked almost. demonic. No, no. There they were, his usual - albeit angry - blue eyes. Still. if that was how he felt then he did have a reason to be angry. "So, no-one cares about you?" She asked, fishing for the one piece of information she wanted.
"Iruka-sensei does." Came the reply, "Why the hell am I telling you this anyway? It's not like you care."
Frowning Ino sighed to herself. Perhaps Naruto wasn't as dumb as she still thought he was. Well, she could tell him why right now. or she could give him some evasive answer or even an outright lie. No. No. An evasive answer would be best, one she could twist into a question even. "What would you do," She began, "If you found out that there was a girl in the village who liked you? Maybe even had a crush on you?"
"Quit it." Naruto half-snarled, "I'm not in the mood to be teased." Then he looked down at his reflection in the watery parts of his meal. "Besides, it wouldn't matter if anyone did like me - I'm engaged, remember? I'm pretty sure we told you about it."
"And. you're not going to fight it? You'd fight anything else." Prompted the blonde-haired girl. "After all, you're the guy who never gives up, right?"
"Because." Naruto gulped and closed his eyes. "Because I don't want to fight it." Opening his eyes again he glanced at Ino. "I don't know why I'm telling you this. because I have to tell someone I guess - I feel like I'll explode if I don't. but. I like Temari."
There was a pause as Ino stared at the boy she was talking to. "What?" She asked, her voice sounding more than a little shocked.
"I like Temari." Naruto stated once more. "There. I said it. I like her."
Ino just continued to stare. "I don't believe you." She muttered, "Then again. you are the number one surprising ninja, aren't you?" With that, she slapped a few small notes and coins down to pay for her meal and hopped off of her chair. "Well," she stated, keeping her gaze off of his face. "Have a good day, I guess."
". Yeah. A good day." Snorted Naruto as she left. "Well, I guess there's still enough time left for something good to happen today."
Smiling to himself Naruto looked up from his bowl of Ramen. "Oi!" He yelled, "One super large Prawn ramen and one medium prawn to go!"
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"That." Began Iruka, "Is the most evil, depraved and torturous idea I have ever heard."
"Isn't it just?" Replied Kakashi as the two of them imagined the scenes of chaos such an idea would cause. "And it would give you free time to train and. well. You know what's coming up. Six weeks after the Chuunin exam, just like it is every year."
His chuunin companion nodded somberly. "The jounin exam." He muttered. "I'd almost forgotten how much I had wanted to become a jounin when I was a kid."
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Iruka sat and glared at the crummy old man that everyone called the Third Hokage. His arms were cross and the scar across his nose was still somewhat dark - it had been almost a year since he had received it now and yet it still hadn't gotten lighter like the medical-nin had said it would. After a while they had begun asking if he wanted them to remove - or at least hide - the scar with their techniques.
Naturally he had told them to bugger off. The scar, he said, was his way of remembering the parents who had died in preventing him from getting any worse when the Kyuubi had attacked the village a year ago.
"Back again Iruka?" The Third asked, peering down his long nose at the scruffy black-haired boy before him. "What for this time? Let me just see here." The Third glanced down at his desk and began to shuffle a few papers around to find the exact report he had received from Iruka's sensei.
"I smoked out the academy." The boy muttered, moments before the Hokage found the report in his stack of papers. "I dumped wet hay in the basement and set fire to it, got the whole place evacuated."
"I. see." Sighing to himself, the older man placed the report back down on his desk and looked at Iruka. "Was there any particular reason that you decided to do such a." He was going to say 'amusing' but really, he had an image to keep, ". dreadful thing?"
"Makino-sensei said that I'd never be able to become a jounin, ever." Grumbled the sulking genin that was the young Iruka.
"So, you believed that filling the academy with smoke was a suitable response then?" Asked the leader of the village.
"She can't tell me that I can't become a jounin." Iruka glared at the Hokage with tears forming in the corner of his eyes. "I heard my parents talking about how proud they would be if I became a jounin - I heard them before. before." His voice cracked and he dropped his head, tears streaming from his eyes. "Before. before they were killed. I. I want to be what they wanted me to be, I want them to be proud of me!"
"Iruka," Began the Third, "I know what your parents were like. They would be proud of you no matter what you became - jounin, ANBU, instructor, medic. they would be proud, simply because you're their son." He smiled, a small crooked smile on a face with enough wrinkles to put a prune to shame. "You may go now."
Iruka stood up and walked towards the door, wiping his face with the sleeve of his shirt as he went. It just wouldn't do to be seen crying outside - not with bullies like Tokurou and Bakura hanging around. Granted, those two had passed the academy exam last year, but they always felt like coming back to torment some of their old bullying victims. Like himself for instance.
"Ah, Iruka." The Hokage called out, moments before Iruka opened the door to the office. "One last thing. Why did you claim that young Kurenai wasn't involved? I do have a reliable witness who says that you were both in on the incident."
The black haired boy paused and drooped his head for a moment. "She's smart," he replied, "she shouldn't have to have her reputation wrecked because of something that I planned and did."
The third merely smiled, knowing that Iruka couldn't see his features. "I see. You may leave now."
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"I guess I did take his words to heart in the end." Continued Iruka, "Besides, I felt happy teaching all the children. But." He looked at Kakashi and smiled a wry little smile. "I guess, seeing Naruto stride towards his goal. I guess it made me think about my own goal."
Kakashi nodded. "You'd need training, tough training - but you'd probably squeeze through as you are now. Personally, I think you should go for training, after all, in the jounin exam everyone needs all the help they can get."
"What will Naruto think?" The scarred chuunin asked himself. "I guess. I guess I do want his approval in this."
The copy-ninja raised his single visible eyebrow. "Oh?" he asked, "Why?"
Iruka smiled to himself and stared up at the ceiling. "Naruto. I guess you could say he's like a younger brother to me now, I wouldn't want to go into something this crazy without knowing how he felt about it."
"Yeah, well." Kakashi glanced towards the door for a moment and saw a jounin he knew making a few discreet hand signals. "Well, I have to go - got to do a little shopping you know?"
"Just don't load up on dirty books like last time, If I'm going to do this I won't have time to provide you with meals every other day." Grumbled Iruka.
"Heh, have I ever let anyone down before?" Kakashi asked as he prepared to leave."
"Yes." Came the reply, as the copy-ninja was just about to leave the room. Shrugging, the masked man stepped outside and vanished in a blur of movement.
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Naruto was racing back to the hospital. Not that long ago his sometimes sensei, the pervert sennin Jiraiya had approached him and informed the young genin that the two of them were going to be heading out on a little trip.
On the one hand he was excited, yet on the other he was somewhat depressed at the thought of leaving Temari to wake up without him present again. Well. maybe she'd be awake by the time he returned to the hospital.
Speeding up slightly, Naruto bounced along from rooftop to rooftop, mentally replaying the kiss in his mind. Would Temari even remember that she'd kissed him?
Knowing his luck, probably not.
As he bounced from place to place - occasionally rebounding off of a wall if no available landing spot presented itself - the young fox-like boy stayed quite deep in thought. So deep, in fact, that he never noticed Iruka until the older man grabbed him by the back of his orange jumpsuit.
"Naruto!" He exclaimed, "Just the person I wanted to talk to!"
In the grip of his ex-teacher, Naruto squirmed about like a fish on the end of a hook. "What do you want!" He wailed, "I haven't done anything!"
Iruka blinked and narrowed his eyes. Obviously Naruto had done something to deny it so quickly. Well, it could be forgotten this time - there were more important things to talk about.
"You're. not in trouble Naruto," he began, "I just. I guess I just wanted your opinion on something."
This, to the blonde-haired genin, was unusual. Most unusual in fact. "My. opinion?" he asked, "What for? What on? Why mine?"
"Naruto." Iruka sat down on the edge of the building the two stood upon and dangled his legs over the edge of the roof. "In a few weeks time there's going to be an. event, one that I hope to participate in. I. I guess I'm just asking for your approval over my going to this event."
"Naaaa." The blonde genin looked at his ex-teacher and frowned. "What event is it?" He asked after a few moments thought, slightly stunned that Iruka of all people would want his approval!
The academy teacher glanced at Naruto for a moment, then looked out towards the edge of the village.
"The jounin exam." He said at last, causing Naruto to jump to his feet in shock.
"You're kidding!" exclaimed the boy, "You. a jounin?"
"Yeah it is a strange thing but." Iruka sighed. "Way back, when I was about your age, becoming a jounin was my goal - I wanted to become a jounin to make the spirits of my parents proud."
"Why. why didn't you?" Iruka paid no attention to the question Naruto asked, he'd known that the boy was going to ask it anyway.
"I guess, I learnt that my parents would have been proud of me regardless of what I became - as long as I was happy really." He smiled and looked at Naruto, his eyes shut and his face covered with a grin. "I never would have taught you if I became a jounin, so I guess I'm glad about that. You've. grown. You've grown into a fine young man. One that, I feel, your parents would be proud of - even if you never get past this point they'll be proud."
"Iruka-sensei." Naruto began. "If you become a jounin then I'll. I'll. I'll treat you to Ramen!"
Iruka threw his head back and laughed, "I take it that's a yes then!" He exclaimed, slipping down from his seat onto the ledge below. "Well, in that case - I'd better go start training." He grinned, "I don't want to miss that ramen you've promised after all!"
With that, the two nodded at each other and bounced away - one to train, the other to say goodbye to a certain girl with sandy hair.
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"You're going?" During his absence Temari had awoken. This time, however, she felt no real need to chase Naruto down. Mostly because she didn't want to faint and end up in hospital again.
"Pervert-sensei said that he would teach me some stuff as we went." Naruto smiled at his fiancee, causing the older girl to blush ever so slightly - though she wasn't quite sure why exactly. "I guess maybe the girls got wise to his peeping habits and he just wants to go somewhere else for a while. Until they stop trying to kill him on sight anyway."
"Well." Temari stared at the sheets of her bed for a few moments, her face in a slight frown. "I guess I should give you something to make sure you come back in one piece then, right?"
Naruto blinked at her statement. "Give me something? What? A weapon? A scroll?" The boy practically bounced on his seat as the mental images of weapons and scrolls wandered lazily through his head.
"No. neither of those." Came the reply, "Just close your eyes."
"Okay. if you say so." Naruto said, pouting for a moment before his eyes were completely closed.
Within the dark space behind his eyelids, Naruto heard the rustling of cloth - obviously Temari was moving to give him his gift. Suddenly, without warning, something soft brushed against his cheek - something soft and warm.
A kiss.
"When you come back," he heard Temari say, "You'll get a matching one on the other side. Now, just, hurry up! Before that pervert guy leaves without you!"
'And before,' she added mentally, 'before you see me start to cry.'
Chapter 10 - Ended.
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Authors notes -
Well. This was. a miracle. That's what it was. And I'm not just talking about how fast it came out either.
I'm not gonna claim even the slightest bit of responsibility for this chapter as, frankly, I had no intention of it coming out this way. it just seemed to write itself o.O;
And it wrote itself pretty damn fast too. ^^;; I dunno. Maybe my subconscious mind is trying to tell me something?
'Drink more coffee' probably.
Aaanyway, enjoy this chapter and, just so you know, the trip Naruto is heading off on is the trip to find Tsunade that occurs in the manga (not much is gonna change there, the fic will concentrate on those left behind while Naruto's away)
As to Iruka. well. It just seemed to make sense to me at the time, that's all o.o;; I figure that he came from the same genin year as Yuuhi (the team 8 jounin instructor) and that there was a jounin exam shortly before the beginning of the manga. He failed, but those of his age group ended up passing.
That or he failed one much earlier and then abstained from the next ones, whilst others from his year went into and passed 'em.
Well. See you next chapter I guess.
- Lackey H - Wondering if Icha Icha paradise has illustrations or not.