Ch7

"Speech"

'Thought'

Gaze upon the Stars

Naruto lowered his head as he put his back against a large tree trunk. It was night, a peaceful night, but nothing but anger filled the tiny boy's mind. 'Why…why only me…' he pondered in his mind. Tears filled his eyes, 'What more do I have to do to be accepted?' he stared down to the floor, watching the droplets of tears falling to the floor.

"Don't look down, look up," A voice sounded before him.

Naruto looked up, "Hokage no Jiichan!" he gasped.

"Hello Naruto," the old man smiled, "You know Naruto, the stars are a remarkable thing," he said.


"The stars?"

"Indeed, just gaze upon them and you will find out,"

Naruto looked up curiously. "I don't get it…"

"Hoho, you are still young Naruto. One day, you will realize how remarkable those tiny sparkling dots up in the night sky is."

Naruto raised an eyebrow like the old man had three eyes skeptically.

"Just gaze upon them Naruto…Just watch," Sarutobi laughed then disappeared into the woods. Naruto leaned back further against the trunk and looked up. His muscles relaxed, his tears stopped, time began to pass unnoticed until finally, his eyelids collapsed from its weight.

Team 7 was making their way speedily through the quiet woods. They had been running for the whole morning and boredom began to sweep their minds. Kakashi was reading his favorite book, still stepping on each branch with supreme accuracy. Naruto yawned tiredly and Sakura shot occasional glance at the cool black haired boy beside her, blushing slightly each time with a giggle.

(Flash Back)

One figure rained maniac smirks upon the three that lay on the ground. His eyes glaring hungrily as of a snake as he licked the blood that collected on the sides of his lips. Naruto looked up through his hair as the man's laughter of triumph echoed through his ears. Slowly, he got to his feet while holding his stomach where a heavy blow had just struck. Sasuke and Sakura managed to set up, breathing heavily with their eyes hanging slightly downward as though they were on the verge of passing out. Glancing behind, the blond boy gave a small grin, "Sasuke, take Sakura-chan and get out of here," he whispered.

"What!" Sasuke's eyes widened.

"I'll take care of Orochimaru, you take Sakura-chan and get as far away from here as possible," he turned and shot a quick smile, "I don't want to see my fellow teammates die before my eyes."

Those were the very words of Kakashi and of his own. 'Naruto…' Sasuke returned the offer with a chuckle, "Why…you help Sakura but why help me! Why are you to this day, still willing to die for me?" he demanded.

"Because…you were the first person that knew of my pains, to be unaccepted, to be feared by society, and to understand the true meaning of loneliness."

Sakura glanced up at the young boy who had a sorrowful smile across his face. 'Naruto…'

"Hey Sakura..." Sasuke glanced over nervously.

"Hm?"

"How do you feel toward Naruto?"

"He always gets in the way of my love life, has no idea to how I feel. His just annoying."

"Lonelyness…its pains are nothing like that of what you get when your parents yells at you…You're just annoying…"

She shifted her eyes to the ground feeling a sense of shame. "Naruto…" she started softly, "I…"

"And besides," Naruto cut in, "We once said, we are only whole together."

"Ha," Sasuke laughed. Naruto looked behind with a slightly shocked and disappointed look. "I won't let you take the sweet part of the cake all the time," he laughed.

Sakura looked up at the two standing side by side. She noticed something that she hadn't seen for a long time, something she thought she may never see again, a smile upon Sasuke's face, a true smile.

(End Flashback)

"Sasuke…Sasuke? SASUKE!" Naruto called.

"Huh, oh what do you want?" the young teen snapped to attention.

"What's with you, not like you to be day dreaming," Naruto asked.

"Just running through a few thoughts, we're almost at the border of our fire country, let's take a break at that that restaurant over there," he pointed to a small hut in the distance.

"Sounds good to me, I'm getting hungry," Naruto agreed.

"Then it's decided? Kakashi sensei?" Sakura glanced to the side with a pleading look.

"Fine by me," Kakashi replied plainly.

"Hellooo," Naruto called, stretching his neck as far as it goes to peep in the inside. It wasn't much for looks, a few rugged tables and benches, a small front desk but all had seemed to be thoroughly cleaned. It was one of those places where one just happen to stumble upon by accident that's run by the owner's family type of place.

"Welcome, welcome!" A young man called from behind some curtains which appeared to lead to a kitchen, "Sorry, I was in the back so I didn't even notice you coming in. Hey you guys, we have customers!"

"Coming!" three kids ran happily out and greeted them.

"Please, go take a seat and I'll be right with you," the man insisted as he extended his hand to a table.

Team 7 did as told. 'This is a good place, nice and quiet. Good place for a vacation or next time I want to skip a meeting,' Kakashi thought.

"WHAT! What did you just say!" Naruto exclaimed.

'Well…at least maybe if Naruto wasn't here.'

"You heard me Dobe, got a problem?" Sasuke said coolly, shooting a mocking glare at his angry rival.

Naruto stomped his feet and raised his sleeve, "Why you…"

"Naruto, calm down before you scare the children," Sakura gave a 'Light' tap on his stomach.

A sudden shock flew over the loud mouthed boy as he clutched his stomach and groaned. 'Wow, that hurt…'

"That's more like it," Sakura smiled and gave a nod.

"Heh…heh…" Naruto laughed weakly.

"Here you go!" A tiny figure called as the 4 looked down from their seats, "You're menu."

"Oh, thank you," Sakura took the menu with a soft smile.

"and your waters," two other halflings walked over and stopped beside the table. As one held the tray, the other took the glasses and placed them neatly on the table. "You guys are ninjas right?" the tiny boy asked.

"Huh, yea," Sakura replied.

"Wow! Cool! Does that mean that you got Shurikens and everything too?" the three bundled together with glimmering eyes.

"Y..yea…"

"You three, stop bothering the customers," the man called.

"Haiii…" The three kids went back in through the curtain with a few giggles and ran away.

"Sorry, those kids are crazy about ninjas. It's sort of like their dreams but with our house so far from the city and out low financial state, I just can't send them to the academy…." He looked down sadly, "Oh, I'm sorry, I guess that's non of your businesses. My name is Touji, how can I help you today," said he, returning the smile on his face.

"Not at all," Kakashi replied, "I'll take some tea and dango."

"Same for me please," Sakura added.

"Yea, I guess I will too," Sasuke sighed.

"What, you're all getting that? How can you call that lunch? Let's see…I'll take…WHOA there's Ramen here! I'll take a Soy Ramen please!" Naruto ordered excitedly.

"Geeze Naruto, you know you can't live on that stuff right?" Sakura glanced across.

"Yea yea…mom…" Naruto pouted. It was a few seconds later that he realized exactly what he had said as the emergency light in his head turned on. Before him was an angry face of a girl, raising her fists and gripping the air tightly. 'I should not have said that…'

(POW!)

Naruto flew from his seat out the store, spinning to the ground with a heavy thud. Returning her glance to Touji, who blinked a few times out of astonishment, he smiled and said "That will be all, thank you," with the most innocent girlish tone of voice.

"A…alright, I..I'll be right back with your orders," Touji sweat dropped and went to the back.

Naruto walked in, adjusting his jaws back in to position. "Geeze, did you have to hit so hard?" he puffed out his cheeks.

"Heh heh, sorry, I didn't mean to hit you that hard actually," Sakura apologized.

'Well, like master like apprentice I suppose,' Kakashi shook his head in his mind.

"Here you are," Touji called, pushing the curtains out with his back, "Three dangos and a ramen, enjoy."

"Whoohoo! LUNCH TIME!" Naruto swallowed his saliva with a loud gulp as he looked at the noodles in his bowls.

"We still have some ways ahead, lets hurry up and get on our way," Kakashi said.

(Few moments later)

"Man, that was good," Naruto said patting his full stomach feeling more than satisfied.

"Let's get out of here," Sasuke said and began to walk.

"Thanks for the lunch," Sakura waved as she walked off.

"You're welcome," Touji waved back and pushed the three kids back in. Seeing the four disappear into the distance, he pressed two fingers to his ear and shrunk his head to his neck collar. "Yo, it's me…yea, they're gone…I'm sure they are…what! Why not?…alright…later…"

(Later that night)

"Hey, it's getting late, we're going to camp around here," Kakashi signaled.

"K," the three answered and followed their teacher down from the branches. After a short while, they set up a small camp fire and found 4 moderate sized logs as pillows for the night. The light of the fire seemed to blind away the stars of the night sky. To the four that sat in a circle around this blaze that lit in the middle of the vast mountain forest of the night gave them a sense of timid ness.

"The sky is pretty clear tonight," Sakura said looking up.

"Yea…" Naruto agreed.

"Whatever," Sasuke said laid down, putting one arm under his head as a secondary, softer, pillow for his head and shut his eyes, "Get some sleep, there's probably another full day of running tomorrow."

(Time passes)

Sakura's eyes flickered open upon feeling a chilly wind rub against her skin. 'The fire's out…' she stirred slightly and looked around. The sun was still yet to rise. Stretching slightly, she laid back down. Then something came to her attention. "Naruto?" she looked up and rubbed her eyes for better focus and looked over at where he was before, he wasn't there. Getting to her feet, she looked around, "Naruto?" she whispered a call. She began to look around the vicinity. Through a wall of trees, she noticed a shadow, sitting upon a cliff. She made her way closer, "Naru..to…" she caught her call, noticing the pensive look in the boy's eyes. 'Kakashi-sensei isn't her either?'

Naruto sat with his feet swinging from the rocky ledge. His head tilted slightly upward to the skies. A glimmer of sorrow swam in his eyes, lit by the silver light of the moon.

'Naruto…' Sakura was about to walk up to him when she felt a hand to her shoulder. Sasuke pointed to another figure that was walking up. 'Kakashi sensei?'

"Naruto, what are you doing up so late?" Kakashi asked.

"Just thinking," Naruto said peacefully.

"About her?"

"…"

"I see, it's hard to hide your tears through laughter, isn't it,"

Naruto shifted his eyes to the side.

"I..I'm not…" Naruto bit his lips.

Kakashi breathed out with a smile, "Remember Naruto, remember what you said on the first day you became part of team 7. There, infront of those wooden polls, you said 'we three together first make a whole.' If you need to talk…"

"Yea…I know…thanks." A smile returned to his lips, "Kakashi Sensei."

"Hmm?"

"Do you ever watch the stars?"

"Sometimes,"

"They're amazing things. A long time ago, I remember the 3rd telling me something about it but I didn't understand it back then. Now, I think I know what he meant."

"and what will that be?"

"Liberty," was the one word that he could best summarize the answer.

Kakashi smiled and turned back toward their camp, "Try to get some sleep alright?" he said, waving with the back of his hand. 'These kids are growing in more than one way' he thought with a satisfied smirk under his mask.

"Come on, let's go back," Sasuke whispered.

"I guess you're right," Sakura agreed. With one last look at the young blond boy, she made her way back to the camp.

What kind of thoughts was running through Naruto's mind then? What kind of pain could be flowing through those eyes? What kind of sorrow confined that star-crossed soul? No one knew the answer to those questions, perhaps, not even the boy himself.

End…

Sorry about this late update. I was finishing the last chapter to another one of my story. Anywho, here ya go, hope you liked it

Melanie Star: Sweet, an 100/10. (High fives) Was ch26 the final chapter to your story? What happened to Sasuke? Or have you just been busy lately and haven't updated it yet? Either way, love your story tons

Jasmine Starlight: This is het, I don't have a problem with Yaoi lovers, but all my fics are het. I hope you liked this chapter too and THANKS TONS for all your reviews

AznNarutoGrl-91: Thank you, and I hope you will continue to enjoy this as I continue to update o

AsburyCirce: There's going to be a lot more about Naruto's past as he continues his quest for the wave breaker sword. (Aside from the flash back at the start of every chapter) Hope to continue to get your support