Story: Melancholia, Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Note: Just a heads up, Sakura's slapstick 'abuse' isn't gonna exist like it does in canon, or rather it won't be nearly as harsh or frequent as it's portrayed in the anime or even the manga, but I figured I might as well have a small smack every now and then, but it will NOT be any harder than normal friends and siblings/parents flick their friend's/relative's forehead or smack a child's hand for being rude or disobeying orders. Just very light innocent smacks, once in a while, not every chapter. However, if you think I shouldn't do it, I'm completely fine with removing it entirely.)

Also, I really really hope this doesn't seem rushed or anything.

Replies to Reviews:

Jorge Luis Arias Arcentales on Chapter 2:

"Please continue, of all that I have read I really found very few stories that focus more on the mental state of the characters than everything else. Sorry for my english"

- That's what I do best, and I think it's long due for a story like this! I hope you stick with me on this! :D Your English seems fine to me! :D

Josh Spicer on Chapter 2:

"Jeez these three (four) just have a legion of issues. They're gonna need a legion of therapists just to handle it."

- Poor Team 7..., they will get through it though, eventually! hehe.

suki hanasuke on Chapter 2:

"I'm happy you revisited part of your childhood! This chapter is quite fluffy too, I wonder what will happen? I can't wait!:3"

- Glad to be back in the fandom and back to writing for Naruto. It's been forever! TwT
And there will be plenty of fluff in this story among the angst.

As Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto headed towards the Hokage's mansion, Sakura and Sasuke couldn't help but notice the harsh glances from random civilians that kept being directed at Naruto, who pretended to not notice it at all.

Why did everybody always look at him like that? They'd both noticed the glances and heard the whispers before on numerous occasions, but never said anything about it, because they figured it wasn't any of their business. Honestly, though, it was really starting to irk them. For one, it almost felt like the glances were being directed at them as well since they were with him.

Sakura began to think back to when Mebuki and Kizashi had told her on numerous occasions to avoid Naruto, just as many other parents had told their own children to do so without giving a clear reason. At the back of her mind, there was always a voice making her want to question why they treated him like he was some kind of plague. He may have pulled pranks before, and did sometimes do troublesome things, but he had never committed any crime that warranted being ostracized and hated by an entire village, right…?

Hell, for that matter, even though she herself never particularly cared about Naruto back in the academy, and thought of him as kind of a nuisance, she never actually hated him.

In fact, as of late, she had really found herself starting to grow closer to him, and she dare say, despite how much of a pain he could be sometimes, she did care about him.

"It's that kid…," She heard a woman mutter to her husband, with her child noticing the hostility. "He's the-"

"Yeah, we should get out of here…" The young man beside her nodded. "Come on, Sora."

"Why? What's wrong, Mama? Papa? Who is he? Who is that boy…?" The child asked confused as he was pulled off.

"That's none of your concern, sweetheart. Just don't look at him…" The mother responded in a seemingly pained voice, as she momentarily met Sakura's eyes.

Something rose inside of Sakura, and she almost had half a mind to say something, a sudden urge to chew the woman out consuming her. However, she decided that starting trouble wouldn't accomplish anything. Besides, they had to focus on getting to the Hokage to receive their mission. Getting into a fight… it wouldn't be worth it.

Sasuke himself wasn't any more comfortable about the whole situation than Sakura was, managing to scare off one lady with an irritated glare of his own, but he too decided it was best not to get involved. It wasn't really his problem, but nor was it theirs. They should just mind their own business already. How the hell was Naruto able to put up with all of this negative attention all of his childhood without going insane?

He looked over to his blond teammate. He didn't seem bothered in the slightest, but Sasuke knew all too well, as did Sakura, that he had to have been noticing their looks, surely. Naruto may have been dense but he wasn't that oblivious. All throughout Naruto's childhood, during the days in the academy, there had been times where Naruto actually spoke out against the people who had ostracized and belittled him.

So then why…? Why did he effortlessly keep up such a happy-go-lucky-expression?

Had he just… accepted this…?

Actually, now that he thought about it, it wasn't that surprising…

He briefly thought back to the days following the Uchiha Massacre.

There had been numerous glances of pity he'd received from others, non-stop whispers about Itachi and the whole situation revolving around it. It make him sick to listen to them, everything did, but he chose to ignore them, to pretend he didn't care what they were saying. It wasn't the same situation, of course, but he did understand it some.

And even before all that started, there had seemed to be a bit of tension between the Uchiha clan and other villagers. Over what, he didn't entirely understand - he was too young at the time - but he did sometimes pick up on the occasional hostility and glares directed at some of his love ones and even himself once in a while.

Now that he thought back to it… The cold looks Naruto received were similar to the glares his family had been getting. As he saw it now, however, he could tell all too easily that it wasn't just simple hatred involved, but some kind of fear as well.

But the Uchiha were one of the strongest clans in history, so naturally some hostility and fear directed at a clan like that made some sense in itself, but… their hatred for Naruto just didn't add up. Naruto wasn't a part of some famous clan and he certainly had no famous Kekkei Genkai or anything of the sort, so why would they…?

Suddenly, in a flash, he recalled the unidentified power Naruto had exhibited back in the Forest of Death and during his fight with Gaara. The image of Naruto's slit eyes and almost demonic facial features burned into his memories. The chakra that had been consuming him back then… It wasn't human…

Was there something Naruto had been hiding from them all along?

"I know he's the one you're really after…" Jiraiya's words to Itachi about Naruto echoed in his head.

"To take Naruto with us… is the supreme order given to us by the Akatsuki…" Itachi had said.

What was it his Brother wanted Naruto for? Did he… have some kind of secret power that had incurred the distrust of an entire village, even gaining the interest of an enemy organization?

Naruto… Just who are you…?

Sasuke shook the thoughts out of his head for the time being and focused on the Hokage Mansion in front of them.

Naruto was the first one to enter, immediately running down the hall, despite Sakura's protests. Naruto shoved open the door to the Hokage's office without even bothering to knock.

"Alright, Obachan! Time to give us our mission!" Naruto said bluntly, as he stormed in, pointing at Tsunade who was sitting at her desk. "And it better be a good one! Not one of those lame D-Rank missions!"

Kakashi, who was already there, looked up. He was about to say something, but before he could-

"You idiot…! You can't just barge in like that and start barking demands at the Hokage…! Haven't you heard of manners…?!" Sakura suddenly scolded him, having just caught up with him. She lightly smacked the back of his head, just hard enough to get the message across.

"Hey…! What'd you have to do that for, Sakura-chan…?!" Naruto whined, as if he hadn't done anything wrong at all. It didn't actually hurt, he was just being dramatic and childish. Sakura sighed, before bowing apologetically.

"I'm so sorry, Hokage-sama. He really didn't mean to be so disrespectful. Naruto, apologize now…!" She demanded.

"Huh, why should I?!" Naruto shot back, bitterly.

"Because I said so…!" Sakura retorted.

Tsunade, meanwhile, couldn't help but be amused by the whole situation, any irritation she initially had felt towards the boy gone. A smirk played on the corner of her lips, a bit of nostalgia hitting her.

This girl… She kind of reminds me of me when I was her age…

She then noticed the bruise on the girl's cheek. Kakashi had mentioned his concern about it; that he thought Sasuke might have had something to do with it, so he had wanted her to take a look at it, but as such a high-level medical ninja, it only took but a brief glance at the injury on the Uchiha's fist for her to deduce that he wasn't the one responsible for hitting her, although it was pretty clear that somebody had. Both of the injuries clearly had different causation and were not connected, at the very least not directly.

"I'm sorry… There, are you happy now…?" Naruto pouted, sounding almost like a three year-old and dragging Tsunade out of her thoughts.

Sakura sighed again. Kakashi smiled nervously at Tsunade, scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry about that... I hope you can forgive them… I promise they mean no harm." He said awkwardly.

"You too, Kakashi-sensei…?" Naruto grumbled beneath his breath, edging back a bit when he received an accusatory glance from his pink haired teammate.

"Well, it is Naruto we're talking about, after all… " Tsunade chuckled a bit, looking at the young boy, who'd quickly grown on her, with fondness. "I would be a fool if I didn't let it slide just this once…"

"Haha… I suppose that's true…" Kakashi laughed awkwardly, more grateful than ever for her lenience. Naruto could be a handful sometimes. Only those who knew Naruto well enough would be so lenient to such behavior from him.

"What's that supposed to mean…?" Naruto gave them a look, but received no answer except a smirk from Tsunade in response.

"Um, H…Hokage-sama…?" Sakura started with uncertainty, her eyes wandering off a bit. "Not to rush or anything, but if you don't mind me asking, what is this mission we're supposed to be going on…?"

"Ah, I'm glad you asked…" Tsunade replied. "I was just about to get to that."

A/N: I hope this was decent and seemed in character enough. I hope I'm not trying to focus on too many things at once or something… I especially hope this doesn't seem rushed. Personally, I'm a little surprised that there wasn't a lot of focus on Sasuke's and especially Sakura's thoughts about Naruto's mysterious power, and while I haven't brought it up yet in this story, I can't help but think about how Orochimaru went off about Naruto being the nine tails right in front of Sasuke and Sakura yet it never gets brought up again and they don't even think back to his words. They were in kind of a panic so I suppose it makes sense, but I'm wanting to tackle stuff and concepts that I would have liked the manga and the anime to go into more.

Also, although I'm still not certain what I'm going to do with Itachi or if I'll even go into that, I'm still going to consider his past canon, as implied by this chapter, thinking about the tension between the village and the Uchiha clan that was brought up. However, at this point in the series, Sasuke still hated Itachi either way, so currently it's irrelevant for now, I suppose. This is more focused on mental health issues and bad coping mechanisms, PTSD, emotional abuse and trauma, that sort of thing. Although, seeing as this does diverge from the canon drastically, some events will probably still end up being similar, but… have a much better turn out, because I'm a genuine sucker for angst with happy endings or at least bittersweet endings.