The Fourth

Part Two

By Mieren

---

"He was too young. You had no right to force him," Tsunade warned.

"He never said a word," Jiraiya started.

"He was a child!"

"He was an adult!"

"How many times did he run away from you?"

"I don't know…"

"Shouldn't that have been your first clue?" Tsunade shouted. "You did this to him!"

"Ssh… he's waking up."

"Yondaime?" the blond woman asked softly. "Yondaime?"

"How bad is it?"

"I don't know. He's not responding."

"Does he remember us?" Jiraiya wondered.

Tsunade looked down on the tiny blond baby sadly. "He knows us." She took a shaky breath. "He won't for long." She performed a long series of intricate hand symbols.

"Wake up… Naruto."

---

"Naruto! Wake up!" a loud female voice demanded. The blond snorted himself awake.

"What?" he asked groggily.

"We're on a mission, dobe," Sasuke reminded him coldly. Naruto huffed at him indignantly.

"Wake up, Naruto," he mimed irately. "Start the fire, Naruto. Naruto, it's your turn to get breakfast. Shut up, Naruto…"

"Shut up, Naruto."

"Shut up, dobe."

I should just kill them.

"What?" Naruto answered aloud, unheard by his teammates. Silence answered. No one answered for several minutes and the blond nervously shook it off as his imagination. He couldn't even blame the fox. The fuzz bucket didn't order him around very often and he never referred to himself in the first person. Blue eyes slowly returned to the clear stream before him. He reached out to the water…

"NARUTO!"

Squawking, the blond plunged into the icy water, breakfast forgotten.

"WHAT?" he roared back.

"HURRY UP! WE'RE NOT EATING BREAKFAST RAW!"

"Stupid little runt," Naruto muttered, spearing half a dozen fish on one arm, too angry to notice his sudden burst of speed and accuracy. "You're lucky I let you eat." His mind temporarily clouded over, wondering where the violent thoughts had originated.

"Lucky I let her eat?" he echoed, confused. He shook his head fiercely. "No. It's just stress. I'm not going to hurt her." Huffing to himself, he returned to camp and started cleaning the fish he had caught. He was sheering the meat from the fragile bones when Sakura started in on him again.

"Hurry up, runt, we're all hungry," she sneered.

"Fine," Naruto hissed, suddenly out of temper. He threw a few logs into a pile and skewered the fresh flesh onto thin skewers. "Burn!" Instantly, the campfire lit up in an inferno, a backwash of ash and char covering Sakura, much to his amusement. Kakashi gave him an unnerved look but said nothing.

"You little brat!" she yelled. Blue eyes glittered dangerously. Nails started to sharpen but the blond held himself in check, confused by his sudden hostility.

"Naruto, you must refrain," Kakashi interrupted. Naruto huffed but remained silent. He had already refrained from killing the annoying girl. Pulling in his temper, he resumed cooking the fish he had caught for the group.

While Naruto was off working, Kakashi cornered the remainder of his students.

"Listen. You know that this is an S class mission, but not why we were assigned to it. Naruto doesn't know yet," Kakashi said softly, his eyes trailing where he had last seen the little blond. "He is the mission."

"Why?" Sasuke asked slowly. "S class missions are only for executions."

"It has to be done," Kakashi intervened. "And judging by his behavior, it has to be done soon before he kills someone."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"He's dangerous… and you'll know why when we start."

"If this is something serious, why didn't we just take care of it in Konaha?" Sakura asked.

"He's not dangerous and you're not going through with it," Sasuke stated, interrupting the other two. He glared at his pink-haired teammate. "How can either of you even consider it?"

"It's our mission. The only thing we need to consider is not getting hurt."

"What's to hurt?" Naruto drawled, reentering the conversation a little more calmly than he had left it.

"How much did you hear?" Kakashi asked, alarmed.

Naruto nodded him off to the side to take his teammates out of the conversation. The silver-haired man followed him willingly. The duo stopped just out of hearing range. It didn't escape the blonde's attention that his formerly powerful teacher was watching him as if he were a snake.

"Yes?" Kakashi prompted.

"I know something's wrong," Naruto supplied. "I just want to know what."

"What do you know, Naruto?"

"I know that something's wrong," the blond stated again, icy blue eyes hard. "And you aren't giving my any straight answers."

"We're just on a mission…"

"Liar."

"Liar?" Kakashi echoed. "Then why are we wandering in circles in the woods?"

"You let Sasuke lead?" Naruto asked sarcastically, scowling slightly.

"What is it you think is wrong?"

"Fuck…" Naruto hissed. "I don't know! All I know is that you're all acting strange!"

"Aren't I always strange?" Kakashi asked patiently, not letting his fear show through. His fingers were trembling slightly in his vest. He didn't draw a weapon yet, but he was ready in case Naruto did.

"Yes…" Naruto admitted. "Just…. What's happening?"

Kakashi sighed. "We have to discuss this later."

"Why?"

"Because we're on a mission. Trouble could find us anywhere."

Naruto hissed and stormed ahead. He vanished into the trees. Seeing him depart, his other two students approached the older man. His visible eye was grim.

"We need to hurry. He's about to snap and we're still too close to Konaha."

"What will happen?" Sakura asked warily.

"If we're not careful enough to kill him in the first hit or two, he could blow out a hundred mile radius."

---

"Is the seal weakening yet?" Jiraiya asked.

"It seems to be. Naruto… is showing signs," Tsunade sighed. "This is dangerous, Jiraiya. Kakashi is too scared to do it and the others are unwilling and too weak."

"We don't have a choice. I couldn't get close enough to do it," the hermit said.

"You were close enough once," Tsunade accused. "It's your fault that the Fourth started a war. And it's your fault that Naruto will start another."

"How was I supposed to know?"

"The same way any teacher knows!" Tsunade shouted. "Making him Yondaime wasn't enough to keep him alive! You never should have raped him, Jiraiya. You were his teacher and you knew about him. When Naruto finds out, it will be his father all over." Father. What a laugh.

---

Kakashi wiped his sweaty palms on his black slacks. He cleared his throat softly, causing Sasuke and Sakura to fall back beside him.

"Throw anything you want. No matter what, don't touch him," Kakashi hissed.

"Don't touch who?" Naruto asked. He never saw the shuriken that killed him.

---

To Be Continued…

It's only going to get weirder before it gets better for Naruto. R&R!