Not To Remember

A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Wafting through the air like a dead weight attached to a spirit was a deafening silence that left a ringing in Naruto's ears. Uneasiness was creeping into the pit of his stomach; the only sound reaching his ears being the rustling of the wind in the trees as it blew astray a few leaves that traveled along the ground, rippling of clothing catching in the swift moving air, the crunch of sandals on dirt as a step was made, and lastly, the whish of multiple hair being blown this way and that by the air current. Providing some shade to the searing sun that had been overhead, the trees finally let Naruto realize why exactly Konoha was called the 'Village of the Hidden Leaf' and it made him calm for some reason. Feeling a light, quick tap on his shoulder, he turned around to look at the sea green eyes of the female member of the ninja team. She seemed to have tired of the silence and was trying to put an end to it by striking up a conversation with him.

"Where did you come from, Naruto? I mean, where were you all these years?" The kunoichi asked him; her voice never seeming more annoying to him in his entire record of memory, which was a calculating total of five months. Behind her, Sasuke stared at her with his dark black eyes, his look saying that at this moment she was the biggest idiot he had ever seen in his entire life. Sukou felt the same way about his teammate as he reached his hand out, knocking her head against the bottom of his palm. An immediate cry of pain from Sakura was all that Sukou needed to be satisfied with her punishment. Naruto simply turned a cold shoulder to the four of them. At the moment he didn't trust them enough to tell them anything about him or his dilemma and so he ignored the girl's question. Sakura turned to her teammates to give them accusing glares. "What the heck was that for?"

A hand was soon found to be placed upon his shoulder and by the size of it Naruto knew at once that belonged Kakashi. For a few moments he wondered what was the deal with him, Kakashi's hand, and his shoulder. Tilting his head upward to look at him the jounin, he received a sincere smile that could be seen only by the wrinkling in his exposed eye. "Don't mind Sakura and her questions. She is merely happy of your return and curious over your disappearance. We all are but we know that it is up top you to tell us."

Naruto gave him a nod before returning his head so he could look ahead of him. Though the temperature was excruciatingly warm with the summer, he was very cold inside of him as well as very pained. Sakura could never have known what had happened to him to cause him to be in his state…he didn't know himself. She didn't know and it was not her fault…in other words Sukou had no right to hit her. Pausing quickly in his steps, he stood there for a moment before he turned toward Sukou and pushed him hard onto the ground. Alarmed, Sukou did not have the time to catch himself while he fell and ended up sliding backwards slightly on his back, his head hitting the hard ground at a force that it was amazing he did not get a concussion from it. The fall was evident became very evident his black clothes when he arched his back and sprang upwards before he started to pat off the brown dirt. His silver eyes held nothing but anger for Naruto who merely looked at him with his arms crossed. "Don't hit a girl. It's not nice."

A warning look from Kakashi made sure that Sukou did not do anything to Naruto in return since Naruto would most likely lose as he did not appear to have ninja training. The silver-haired boy went ahead while muttering something that sounded like, 'I will go scout ahead'. A hand was over Sakura's mouth and its purpose was to hide the fact that she was biting her lip with worry, as she was the cause of this. "I apologize…I shouldn't have asked you that. It was not in my place…"

Looking over at Naruto for a moment before turning to the ground, Sakura merely tried to hide her own embarrassment and shame from her team and from the returned boy. Naruto continued to walk as if nothing had happened, his arms still crossed. He was puzzled, having not a single idea why Sakura being hit by Sukou had so suddenly angered him enough for him to commit a violent act. He closed his eyes, feeling the return of a memory, but otherwise he continued walking a straight as he could. A picture was beginning to form and take shape in his mind and he caught his breath and waited for it to completely come to him.

It was set in the early springtime when the cherry blossoms had been blooming for a few days, their petals already littering and dancing among the forest floor and traveling through the streets of Konoha. He saw himself running as fast as his small skinny legs could carry him, holding in his hand a small bouquet of the spring flowers that were attached to the wood stick from the branch of the tree he had extracted them from. He could not have been more than four years old and his face was beaming. A small girl was ahead of him and whom he was heading over to; it turned out that she was a much younger Sakura. She was sitting on the ground, crying, her hands covering her eyes and her bangs covering her hands. She looked delicate and fragile, as if she wasn't exactly real. He knelt down beside the girl, gave her a tight hug before taking her hands and enclosing them around the soft pink cherry blossoms. There he sat for a few moments before her stood up and put his hands on his hips; saying, "Don't cry, Sakura. Please don't cry." What had started out as an order turned into the plead of a small boy looking out after his crush and he didn't say anything else to her. Her small hands closed around the twig attached to the cherry blossom and she looked up at him with her tear-streaked face.

"Thank you Naruto. They are really pretty." She gave him a hugely grateful smile and in turn he smiled himself, telling her that the flowers were, "Not as pretty as you, Sakura-chan."

As the memory came to a close, Naruto now began to look at Sakura with a new light, sort of like a friend. At some point or another they must have been friends or she had some qualities that his younger self must have liked. She had triggered to him a memory…a precious memory and he thought that this was a good payment for him cheering her up all those years ago. He beamed at her with a wide smile, placing his hand on her shoulder and looked at her sea green eyes with his sky blue ones. "Thank you." Was all that he said to her. She blinked at him for a moment as if she did not understand what had just happened but went a long with it instead. When he removed his hand from his shoulder she edged towards Sasuke, trying a conversation with him instead being to weirded out by Naruto. Behind Naruto, Kakashi gave him a an unnoticed smile and coming back Sukou informed them that they were within a minute's walking distance from the village.

The villagers that happened to be closest to the gate immediately stopped their work to look at the strange boy that was by walking among one of the newest of the genin ninja team. Very few of them were to noticed the similarities between the pre-teen they saw before them and the small boy from long ago that was taken away from them. Nearest to the gate was a group of three genin, two boys and a girl and…once again with a jounin ninja. Naruto was beginning to see a pattern in this formation but he had enough sense to keep the questions he had to himself.

This group of people was the one that were looking at him the most, their eyes wide. He looked over himself and his eyes rested on the female member of the team. Her small gentle face was fixated on his, a happy and greatly relieved look in her eyes. Had she been waiting for him to come back to Konoha? Shaking this question away from his mind he continued to examine her.

One thing that he could tell that she was a very shy girl but by now he wasn't looking at her nervous habits or at her attire that was too warm for summer nor were his eyes resting around her small tiny frame. He was looking at her pale face framed by little tufts of purple hair and a solid line of bangs. It was in this face that contained a pair of pale white eyes, something that struck out at him as very familiar to him. In fact, everything about this girl was familiar to him and looking at her caused a name he had never heard before pop into his mind. Hinata…he guessed that it was her name and it didn't fit…she did not look as if she had had a good life either and she certainly did not look like a sunny place(1). He could not conclude how he was able to remember her name out of everyone else's and to say the least; it made him feel rather awkward. Looking to see if he could recognize her partners, Naruto saw a boy with a white happy looking puppy and another boy he would just rather avoid due to the vibe he was getting from him.

"Naruto?" A voice called out in all the silence. Naruto's head immediately spun to look for the owner of that particular voice, the voice from the man in his most precious memory that had brought him here in the first place and had given him his name. His eyes were to meet a man with a long scar across the bridge of his nose that made him wonder how he happened upon it. Brown hair in a ponytail that pointed out in almost all directions and being adorned with the jounin vest he looked like the average ninja. Being pulled into a quick warm hug, Naruto didn't really have time to examine the others in around him that had started in a wave of hushed words around him. Whispering…it was hushed whispering from everyone. The words were cold and the voices held a distinct dislike for him being there. Anger rising at the reacting when he did nothing he pushed the man away he looked up to meet his brown eyes.

"Who the heck are you?" Naruto asked him, not meaning to seem cold and distant but that was how it came out and he regretted it soon after. The eyes of the man took on a deep sad look while the face turned to an expression of pain. This was obviously not the reaction that the man had been expecting to come out of Naruto's mouth but after a few moments of silence he made to seem to come to the same take on things as Kakashi had told his students. Kneeling down, the jounin placed both hands on Naruto's shoulders and smiled brilliantly at him, surprised that Naruto did not wrench out of his grip.

"I'm Iruka…I was your teacher. Still like orange I see. How have you been all these years?" The smile made Naruto feel a little better at what he had just said, knowing he had been forgiven. It was the exact same kind voice and kind look and warm feeling that he had experienced from his memory and he was happy to put a face to the voice. Looking down at his plain orange shirt, he merely nodded to Iruka's note. This was something new for him to know; the fact that even six years ago he still loved the color orange. It made him wonder if he liked Ramen then too as he did now so much that no one dared take him to a ramen shop telling him that he could eat all he liked and they would pay for it.

In the background the whispering continued, growing harsher and colder as the seconds ticked by. It made Naruto turn to look at the faces of the villagers who immediately looked away and quiet at his gaze. It was just as he had thought; they did not want him to be there at all and had probably liked the fact that he was gone. Looking down to the solemn hard ground, he placed clasped his hands and held them together. Ironically surrounded by people who had gathered to make sure he had really had returned to the village, he was now experiencing an all too familiar feeling: loneliness. Once again the look on Iruka's face when he found out he didn't know him caused him to feel really bad inside.

"Iruka…I don't know how I've been all these years…I don't have any memory of anything until five months ago. I want to thank you though…my single memory of you allowed me to know my name." The village took on a different look at him, as if they felt sorry for his loss. Whispers of how pity of how he had no memory now arose and he chose to block them out. Looking around Hinata gave him a look as if to comfort him, to say that everything would be all right. This was before she disappeared into the crowd and then he came up the dirt road.

(1): Hinata is supposed to mean 'Sunny Place' from what I understand.

Whew...over 700 hits, 16 reviews, 20 alerts, 2 C2's, and 5 favorites since the verybeginning (prologue)and I now submit the second. I want to thank everyone for the support...your drive makes me do these quick updates. Domo Arigatou (Thank you)!

Ok someone asked about pairing...I originally wasn't planning on any but obviously this chapter has both hints of Naruto/Sakura and Naruto/Hinata but nothing really definent...if you really want me to have pairings have a part of the storygo ahead and say which ship you would want...and note that Neji, Lee, Gai, Tenten, Orochimaru, Itachi, Gaara, and others are going to be in the story to but Naruto is still the amin character.

About Sukou: I realized that when I put Naruto in his position the normal team was short by one person. And looking at the names I continued to keep with the 'S' and so I invented Sukou and since the teams are 2 boys and a girl Sukou had to be a boy. He will have a bit to do with the story so but I aint gonna say anymore than his last name is 'Kitsu' and for those that know some Japanese look at the word a little and I gave you a clue.