Chapter 6:

A Matter of the Heart

"And that's what happened," Iruka let out a sigh. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun…"

Naruto, with tears in his eyes, got up from his seat, went over to Iruka, and suddenly hugged him, not caring that Ayame and the old man were watching.

"Wha—"

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei… for believing in me…" Naruto whispered in between sniffles.

"Naruto-kun…"

"Ah, the powerful bond between teacher and student! It's such a wonderful sight! Yes, such a sad and touching story should never be held back!" a voice suddenly called out from behind the two ninja.

Startled, the two glanced behind them to find a sniffling and teary-eyed Lee staring at both of them.

"Th-thickbrows…" Naruto stuttered out.

Seeing Lee in front of him, Naruto was then suddenly aware that there were other pairs of eyes staring at them. Looking around, Naruto saw that Kakashi and most of the Rookie 9 had been standing behind them and listening in the whole time without their noticing it. Naruto suddenly felt embarrassed. Beside him, Naruto noticed that Iruka, too, felt the same way.

"W-when did you get here?" Iruka asked, slightly embarrassed that everyone saw the whole ordeal.

"Just a while ago…You were so into the story that you just didn't notice us," Kakashi answered for everyone.

"So, tell us, Iruka-sensei! What happened to the boys that bullied Naruto?" Ino suddenly cut in.

Everyone nodded. It seemed that they were all eager to hear Iruka's answer.

"E-eh?" Iruka was surprised at the sudden question. "W-well, I heard that those boys were summoned by the Third. I was delivering the food to Naruto's place at that time so I don't know everything. But from the evil grin I saw on Hokage-sama when I came to report in after the delivery, I think they were given a punishment that must have been…torturous…"

Kiba grinned. "They were probably taken to a room where they were all spanked in the a—"

"Right! Anyway!" Naruto suddenly interrupted. "That's all well and good, but I still want to know what you guys are doing here."

"Well, it wouldn't be a celebration without us, now would it?" Kiba asked, grinning.

"C-celebration?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Don't tell me you already forgot?" Ino exclaimed. "Your promotion to becoming a chuunin? Don't you remember?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm not actually one yet until tomorrow when they officially announce it…"

"So? Who says we can't celebrate your promotion the day before?" Kiba asked.

"S-so you guys actually want to come and join me?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"Well, why else would we be here?" Ino asked.

"To eat?" Chouji tried to answer. But his response only earned him a glare from Ino.

Naruto suddenly felt a bit teary-eyed.

"Was this why Naruto was depressed earlier? Because nobody had yet to congratulate him on his promotion?" Ayame asked herself.

"Ah, looks like I have a confession to make. Sorry Naruto-kun, I didn't expect them to come this early...This was the reason why I was so late in joining you today," Iruka explained to the blonde. "I was trying to gather everyone so they could come and celebrate with us…since we all wanted to tell you in person…Congratulations, Naruto-kun, on your promotion," Iruka finished with a smile.

"T-thanks a lot everyone…" said Naruto, wiping away a stray tear that had rolled down his cheek.

Everyone smiled.

Seeing everyone's smiling faces made Naruto even happier. But there was still something missing, he had thought to himself.

"I-is Sakura-chan coming?" Naruto suddenly asked.

"Um… about that Naruto-kun… She's wi—" Iruka tried to explain but was suddenly interrupted by a loud scream outside of the ramen stand.

Without hesitation, everyone quickly ran outside to see what had happened, but all they found were two girls enthusiastically talking about something. They did not seem to notice the group of shinobi that they had attracted due to their very lively talk.

"Ah, no way! You're kidding?" a brunette exclaimed.

"Nope, I'm not!" another girl replied; this time a blonde.

"Hmn… false alarm," Neji told the others.

"Girls… How troublesome…" Shikamaru whispered to himself as he shook his head.

"What was that, Shikamaru?" Ino asked the black-haired ninja with a menacing smile.

"A-ah… nothing…" Shikamaru quickly replied.

"That's what I thought," said Ino, quickly walking past the poor young man.

Kakashi and the others followed the blonde kunoichi back into the ramen stand. Naruto was about to enter back into the stand when something made him stop in his tracks.

"Oh, by the way, did you hear about Sasuke-kun?" the blond girl suddenly asked.

Naruto's ears suddenly perked up at the mention of the name.

"Yeah… poor Sasuke-kun. He must be hurting with that broken arm and leg. I heard he got those injuries from saving one of his teammates," the other replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah… Hey, do you think we should go and bring him something? Like flowers?"

"Nn…" the blonde-haired girl nodded. "We should definitely do that. Maybe he'll even reward us with a kiss."

The girls giggled at the thought.

Naruto, suddenly feeling sick from the conversation and not wanting to hear any more of it, quickly entered Ichiraku.

Everyone seemed to notice Naruto's expression.

"Oi, Naruto! You alright, there?" Kiba voiced out the group's thoughts.

Naruto ignored the question and just sat back down on his seat. Something seemed to be on his mind.

"I-I see…" Naruto whispered to himself. "Sakura-chan's still in the hospital with Sasuke, right?" Naruto asked Iruka quietly. "That's why she won't be able to come, right?"

"N-nn… That's right…" Iruka nodded. Noticing Naruto's sudden quietness, Iruka quickly added, "But don't forget, Naruto-kun, Sakura-kun is a medic-nin and she's obligat—"

"How is Sasuke?" Naruto suddenly interrupted.

"He's doing well," Kakashi cut in. "From what I last heard, he'll make a full recovery from his injuries and will be out of the hospital in a week."

"I see…That's good then," Naruto quietly replied.

Ayame noticed the sudden change in the atmosphere. Silence had suddenly reigned down upon the small ramen stand. Everyone else also noticed the change. It only lasted for a few seconds, however, for Kiba had quickly grown impatient. He could not stand the depressing atmosphere anymore. Knowing he had to do something, the black-haired shinobi walked towards Naruto and then suddenly slapped him in the back.

"Yo, Naruto! Are you just gonna sit there while everyone else starves to death or are you going to feed us?"

Kiba's action seemed to do the trick.

"Yeah, Naruto! We're all hungry!" Ino exclaimed. "And Chouji can't keep on eating chips forever you know," said the blonde, pointing to a potato-chip-eating Chouji.

"Actually, I can," retorted the chubby chuunin. His response only earned him another glare from the kunoichi.

"Besides, aren't we supposed to be celebrating?" TenTen added, patting Naruto on the back.

"A-ah…Yeah…you're right. Sorry, I was just lost in thought," Naruto apologized.

With renewed energy, Naruto turned to Teuchi with a smile on his face.

"You hear that, old man? My friends here want some food! They're here to celebrate my promotion so I'm definitely not gonna let them down. So you better bring on the good stuff!"

Teuchi laughed at Naruto's renewed energy. "You got it, kid!"

Minutes passed by as everyone sat down and chatted with each other. Loud noises and laughter filled the ramen stand. But as the group of ninjas chatted and joked around, a young waitress was busy trying to piece a puzzle that was in her head. Questions kept running through her mind, and the more she thought about it, the more confused she became.

"Why was Naruto-kun so upset about Sakura-san having to stay with Sasuke-kun? Iruka-san is right. Sakura-san is a medic-nin and she is obligated to treat the injured. So why then? Besides, weren't they all supposed to be good friends?" Ayame asked herself.

Then it suddenly struck her.

"Does Naruto-kun like Sakura-san?" the young waitress suddenly asked.

Ayame jumped when she suddenly heard someone choking. Looking towards the source, her eyes widened at what she saw. Naruto was once again choking on something. TenTen was currently patting his back, trying to make him spit it out but to no avail. Acting quickly, Ayame filled a glass with water and gave it to Naruto which he immediately drank.

"S-sorry about that Ayame-chan. You're question just threw me off guard," Naruto explained, his face a little red.

"Question?" Ayame thought to herself. "Oh no! I must have said it out loud!" she told herself as she put her hands over her mouth.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun! I didn't realize I had said that out loud! I really didn't mean to upset you! Ooh… and that's the second time I've made you choke on something today, too! I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun, please forgive me!" the young waitress cried out hysterically, her face showing that she was nearly in tears.

"A-ah… D-don't worry about it Ayame-chan…" Naruto quickly replied, hoping against all hope that there would not be a crying girl in front of him. He wouldn't know what to do if she did. "No harm done… See!" the blond proceeded to pound on his chest to try and emphasize his point, but all it did was just make him cough even more.

Watching Naruto's coughing fit, Ayame's lips suddenly began to twitch. And before long, she could not hold in the laughter that was bursting inside her, and suddenly started laughing. The others, it seemed, could not hold their laughter in anymore as well and joined in. Even Naruto joined in after he stopped coughing.

After the laughter finally died down a few moments later, Shikamaru, remembering the question that had started all of the commotion, decided to answer it.

"You're right, you know. Naruto has always liked Sakura," the black-haired jounin suddenly spoke out with a nonchalant tone.

"Eh? I have not!" Naruto vehemently denied the accusation, but the redness on his face said otherwise.

"You think we haven't noticed after all these years? It's kind of hard not to notice it when you publicly humiliate yourself in front of her. Not to mention your loud ramblings about Sasuke and Sakura in which at times we're on the receiving end of," Shikamaru explained to Naruto. "So troublesome…" the jounin sighed.

Naruto did not answer. Instead, he just lowered his head down making his hair cover part of his face. To everyone, it looked like he was just hiding the blush that was forming. His lack of a response only seemed to confirm Shikamaru's statement even more.

"S-so Naruto-kun does like Sakura-san after all…" a quiet little voice suddenly spoke out.

"Shit!" Shikamaru immediately reprimanded himself. "I totally forgot that Hinata was here, too…Ah, this is definitely a troublesome situation to be in," thought the young jounin as he placed his hand on his forehead.

It was suddenly getting a little too hot in the ramen stand as Shikamaru could feel the burning glares that the others were giving him.

Hinata seemed to notice Shikamaru's unusual behavior. Figuring out what was probably troubling the young ninja, Hinata suddenly spoke out.

"I-it's alright, Shikamaru-kun… I-I'll be fine…" Hinata told him, a smile on her face.

Shikamaru noticed that the smile on Hinata's face was forced.

"There's no mistaking it now… I'm dead…" thought the young jounin.

Shikamaru felt the room grow hotter.

Naruto did not notice the whole affair, however. He was too busy drowning in his own thoughts. What Shikamaru said had struck Naruto hard. Every word he had said was true. Ever since he could remember having a crush on Sakura, he had always tried to get her attention. But it would always end the same way. He would either be ignored or denied. He remembered her saying that she wanted a boy like Sasuke, who was much cooler and more mature than he ever was. But Naruto never gave up. He had tried so hard to get her to notice him after that, that in the end, he just wound up embarrassing himself whenever he did. Even then he never gave up. But that soon changed after that one night…It was a memory he just could not forget no matter how hard he tried. And because of that, his heart would break over and over again every single time he thought about it.

Naruto let out a defeated sigh.

"You're right Shikamaru…" Naruto suddenly said, interrupting the glaring contest that everyone seemed to be holding. "It's true that I have always liked Sakura-chan… but…"

Everyone was suddenly looking at him in anticipation, even Hinata.

"But… I've already given up on chasing after that dream…" Naruto finished quietly, his eyes never leaving the empty bowl in front of him.

Nobody could believe what they were hearing. Naruto had actually given up on a dream that he had long been chasing. Hinata, despite having feelings for the blond boy, was just as surprised as everyone else.

"B-but why?" Ino asked, confusion evident in her voice.

Naruto just continued to stare at his empty bowl of ramen.

"Something happened…didn't it?" Neji answered for the young genin.

Everyone looked at Neji with curiosity in their eyes.

"I've never known you to be a quitter, Naruto," he explained. "Do you remember? You showed me that never-ending determination when we fought against each other. So I can only deduce from what I know of you that something happened between you and Sakura-san."

Flashes of that time with Sakura suddenly invaded his thoughts. He suddenly felt his chest tighten.

It seemed he had no choice. There was no escaping it. Making his decision, Naruto reluctantly agreed with a nod of his head.

"Well? Then tell us what happened!" Ino suddenly jumped in.

"Ino-san!" TenTen reprimanded the blonde girl.

"What? I know you want to hear it, too!" Ino replied.

"But—"

"I-it's alright, TenTen," said Naruto.

"N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered softly.

Naruto let out a sigh. "There's really no point in me hiding the truth now. One of you will probably push someone else to tell you what happened anyway, so it might as well be me."

Ino blushed in embarrassment at Naruto's comment. He was right. She would've gone straight to Sakura and pushed the girl until she told her what had happened.

Kakashi turned to Teuchi. "It looks like you might need to make another round of ramen for everyone, Teuchi-san…"

A/N: This chapter was…interesting… for me to write. This was the first time I ever wrote something with that many characters in one place. It was as Shikamaru puts it, "troublesome." I had to make sure that their comments, responses, and their emotions matched that of their character in canon. On top of that, I had to see in which parts of the story each character could properly reply in and which parts they simply could not. This is the end result. Hopefully, I did a decent enough job with everything. I know that not everyone in the group got much to say in this chapter. But don't worry though; they'll get their turn eventually.

I know that this chapter was a bit depressing and as you've probably already guessed…so will the next one. I'm probably going to get a question about pairings again after this and next chapter. So…please refer back to the writing above the disclaimer in Chapter 1. Your answer is there.

By the way, if you read closely, you may have noticed Ayame's reference to the very beginning of Chapter 1, when Naruto first walks in.

Well, this officially ends Chapter 6. The next chapter will be another flashback. This time it will be about Naruto and Sakura. I hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter. And before I go, I would like to give a hearty thank you to everyone who has continued to read and follow this story. You're the reason I keep writing. So, thank you! 'Till next time.

This chapter has not been beta-read.