CHAPTER XVI
Right Thing? Wrong Thing?
Neji silently moaned in exasperation when Naruto dug his face painfully deeper in his arms. Naruto swore he felt his body turn to that of a child's: his back turned against a large tree, his arms hugging his legs which placed his body into a tight, fetal position, and right now he just couldn't help but sulk like a child. He didn't think that he'd miss his chance of beating up that Sasuke-bastard since the coward just disappeared out of thin air… nothing out of the ordinary, really, but in this case it made him very furious, that he wanted to tear every hair on his head and die.
"Maybe he was the dog…" Neji insisted.
"Oh, god, I'm laughing," Naruto said sarcastically, his voice muffled by his own arms,
"No, seriously, have you even thought about that?"
"Of course I thought about Sasuke using HENGE! What am I? Stupid?"
"Maybe…" Neji said under his breath, so inaudibly that Naruto barely heard that mockery,
"What!"
"Oh nothing…" Neji innocently said, sliding his back against the tree and sitting next to Naruto as a comforting gesture,
"I mean, if Sasuke TURNED into the Uchiha family mutt, then why the hell did it try to bite my ass off?" he growled, "Besides, its scent was a hundred-percent FIXED mutt. Right now, who the hell knows where our Rokudaime-TEME-sama is. For all I know, he might've spent the night in a drunken ORGY…"
Neji snorted, "Orgy? Uzumaki, I know, as you were making that rancid statement, that our Hokage-sama is an a-hole, but to go out on a night of 'drunken orgy'? That's low…"
Naruto looked at Neji, glaring a hole through that cursed seal on his forehead and slapped a menacing palm on it, "Ugh, just shut up—I'm thinking, here…"
Neji flinched and looked at him fiercely, rubbing a hand on his stinging brow which Naruto had just slapped, "And what, pray tell, are you thinking?"
"How to find Sasuke and murder him," Naruto said simply, his blue eyes burning with a fiery hatred,
Neji heavily sighed, thinking to himself that such a good day was ruined by this shocking news. He never knew that one of the most respected ones of Konoha would do such a thing, and he never thought about doubting Naruto's words since he looked as if his body parts were dismembered—a beautiful day turned sour. A couple of white birds flew a thousand feet over their heads, and the trees shook with a tremor which Neji only knew from experience: heartbreak and anger. Mix it together and it made the darkest black.
He faced Naruto with a serious look and said: "I think he still lusts for power. Even if he shed that skin of a traitor, I always knew that that dark part of him will never be pure." He silently mumbled,
"Oh, and you knew that all along?" Naruto glared at him, his blue eyes radiating a violent red,
"I always had a feeling. And I'm very sorry for not telling you, but I really thought that Sasuke wasn't THAT much of a jerk. Plus I didn't want you to doubt him for Sakura's sake," Neji scratched his chin thoughtfully, "And oh how I was mistaken…"
Naruto slipped a palm to his face and rubbed his tired, sleepless eyes, "I do have to advise you," Neji said, "That you shouldn't resort to violence just like THAT. If Sakura finds out about you KILLING her husband, I think she'd ignore you until your funeral."
"Well I think she'd be thankful that I killed the pest of her life…"
"Oh, don't you understand anything about WOMEN Uzumaki?" Neji scolded, "Some girls want to go against their husbands headfirst, and I know Sakura pretty well to be certain that she has the particular trait."
"How'd you know about this?" Naruto scorned,
"I'm one of the poor husbands. And believe me, Hinata sometimes advances toward me with horns on her head and a dangerous gleam in her eyes…" Neji shivered at one memory, "I'm very thankful that it only happened twice."
"So, what the hell am I supposed to do, hmm?" the blonde pressed, his fists growing pale from the force he was implying, "I know what I'm supposed to do! I'll SKIN that Sasuke-bastard ALIVE!"
"Heyheyhey!" Neji exclaimed, putting a hard hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Look, Uzumaki, don't even THINK about stooping to his level. I know very well that he's the Hokage, and I also know that cheating on your wife is lower than dirt, but beating him up senseless is nothing compared to dirt: it's lower than that. I know very well that 'skinning him alive' is absurd, and it's going to solve NOTHING."
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Fine, I won't do anything extreme, then."
"Good, now listen CAREFULLY," Neji said, gritting his teeth so that the dense one would listen, "Wait until Sakura comes home from her mission, THEN tell her. Guide her steps all the way, and go through this looking like the hero." He smirked, "Who knows? Maybe she'll turn to you for… 'comfort',"
Naruto blinked, and then suddenly blushed, "Yeah, I'll end this looking like the hero!"
"Right," Neji patted him at the back, "And you'll hold yourself when you see Sasuke walking down the street, right?"
"Even if the girl's fiddling her feisty-ass legs around his…somewhere." Naruto grumpily replied, "Look I get it, let's just drop the subject. I don't wanna hear anymore."
Neji slightly nodded his head as his brow creased with worry, "Right."
Naruto heavily sighed and took in the smell of a new kind of despair. But strangely, though, a small part of him was rejoicing.
"I almost got him," he murmured, "I almost beat him off to a pulp…"
Neji's brow suddenly curled to a thoughtful one, "Admit it," he said, "You feel relieved on the inside,"
"… I have a chance,"
Neji chuckled and looked at Naruto square in the eyes, "I need to go,"
Naruto looked at him with surprise and disappointment, "Wha— ?"
"And YOU," Neji stood up and helped Naruto on his feet, "Go home and rest. I get the feeling that you didn't sleep at all yesterday. Were you looking for the Rokudaime all night, Uzumaki?"
Naruto glared at Neji through his blonde hair, fiercely looking at his placid faced friend and seemingly burning a very large, scorching hole through him. Neji's face twisted to some strong exasperation, "Right." He said blandly.
Naruto, for the umpteenth time, fell on his bed with a very heavy 'thud', his arms flying after his tired shell of a body. He had decided to do what his friend told him to do, because he knew, in the pit of his stomach, that Neji was right about all this. All he needed to do was lay low and prevent himself from wringing the Rokudaime-teme-sama's neck until his eyeballs pop off. Another day for brooding, another moment of hating, despairing and cursing. Naruto smiled: this was actually going to put Sasuke out of the picture.
He quietly told himself that he was also doing this for them, and not just for himself, but somehow he couldn't feel anything but guilt. His smile turned to a dubious frown.
This was selfish. It was right to tell her, but a part of it was selfish no matter how many angles he looked at it.
He stood still, rooted to the ground as Sasuke's little whore suddenly burst out of his office, pulling Naruto out of his shocked trance. Naruto finally concluded, after minutes of doubting whether or not it was Sasuke himself or his own janitor doing something naughty, to burst in the door and KILL whoever did him wrong: the janitor for tricking him as a fool, or Sasuke for cheating on his most beloved kunoichi and her son. Anyway, seeing the satiated woman was the last straw he could take, so he did the most natural thing a man can do.
He burst through the door with an angry…
-BANG-
There: Sasuke, sitting on his desk with his cheeks blushing wildly and his chest going through a ragged bout of inhales and exhales—a sure sign that he enjoyed it. Naruto clenched his teeth as his eyes bore daggers on Sasuke, who was a bit surprised, if not looked calm.
"You BASTARD!" he snarled,
"Naruto!"
Naruto lashed out and grabbed the Hokage's collar, forcing the Uchiha within two inches in front of his incensed face: "You BASTARD!" he roared,
Naruto's throat gurgled and sent out a very low and menacing growl, his eyes beginning to glow a furious color. He felt his palms bleed from the force his nails were exerting, but he simply didn't care, "What the HELL WERE YOU DOING!"
Sasuke simply slapped Naruto's hands away, eyes reflecting alarm and perplexity, yet he still looked composed on the outside, "Face it, Naruto," Sasuke whispered, "You're fucked,"
The Rokudaime hastily stepped back and flattened his body on the wall behind him, as Naruto readied to pounce furiously on him and grab Sasuke's neck. A dark shadow loomed under them. The darkness ascended up on the wall like little insects which reminded Naruto of Shino's kikai bugs, and threw waves down Sasuke's feet, completely consuming Sasuke's body in black and gray. A stony sound of devils roaring failed to reach Naruto's ears since all he could hear were his ragged, furious gasps, and his blood heavily pulsating in his ears like bold drums resounding throughout a dry desert of hurt and pain. The next thing he knew, Naruto's body slammed violently against the wall.
A broken breath.
A silent gasp.
Naruto's eyes reflected sheer surprise once he realized that, instead of colliding with Sasuke, the wall welcomed him instead. He shut his eyes tight as he felt his body shake lividly.
He shrieked a terrible curse.
He growled and glared at the wall before him with utter loathing, and his fist unfurled and angrily clawed the wall which just struck him down by Sasuke will.
"SASUKE!" he roared. He didn't care whether or not his heated cry was heard outside, but this time Sasuke pushed him too far, into the roads of no return.
Naruto's feet trembled a bit as his lips stuck on an animalistic growl. A couple of more seconds passed when he noticed that his feet were suddenly moving to their own accord.
-SLAM-
He struck the door down and burst through the hallway like a burning arrow. He barely even noticed the blood slipping down his knuckles and the wooden debris that was the door. His feet barely hit the ground at all, since his godly speed increased as livid thoughts injected into his brain.
That moron… was cheating on HIS Sakura!
He couldn't think about anything else, but one. One destination his feet were instinctively carrying him: the Uchiha Household.
It may be possible that Sasuke, his tail between his legs, reappeared into his own home, but then again, Sakura must've told him about Naruto's earlier visit. If she ever had the chance of meeting with her own husband earlier.
He wildly scoffed, craning his neck to look behind him in case Sasuke was somewhere behind his back, snickering like an idiot all the way.
Rokudaime-teme.
Naruto's body slammed against the door…
-BAM-
-BAM-
-BAM-
His knuckles were red from rapping that hard, but he didn't care about pain anymore.
-BAM-
"SHIT!" The door was immovable.
Uchiha wasn't there. All the lights were turned off, and Naruto was very sure that Sasuke wasn't that much of a coward to hide in his own home like poultry. And he also wasn't stupid enough to hide in his home in the first place!
Where the hell was he, then? Has he gone to a whorehouse? A world where he can do anything he pleases just as long as it sates his lustful, yet deceitful body? Where the hell IS he?
A sharp bark interrupted his infuriated thoughts. A dog?
… like master like canine, I suppose.
Naruto rigidly stood up when he started to become tired of lying down on his back like an overgrown carpet. He swung a lazy leg over his bed, biting back a gritted curse when his foot hit something very hard. Naruto sighed as he massaged his toe.
Sakura-chan… why didn't she wait for him? Why is it that she was so easily caught by the bastard's disloyal snare? It was just unfair for both of them, Naruto and her.
And not to mention Jin, the boy reared as an Uchiha, yet raised as a Haruno, would obviously be devastated by his father's lack of support for him and Sakura, and his father's preposterous affairs with different women. The kid kind of grew on Naruto, like a son usually would to a father, so that hideous thought of Jin becoming another vengeful loner like Uchiha Sasuke made his stomach wrench even more. The child would have 'trauma' engraved on his forehead, and Sakura's heart would be torn into pieces and burned, but no matter how many tragic thoughts he created in his mind, a part of him was still selfishly laughing like an overjoyed madman.
He has a chance…
He has a chance…
He was glad and distressed at the same time.
"I know what you're thinking," a voice behind him said, "And I don't desire to stop you,"
"Why not, geezer?"
"One thing: you have a head as hard as the Great Rock of Bulzebaba itself. And besides, I'm guessing that I'd be too cruel to deny you of your needs."
Naruto angrily jerked his head toward the hermit behind him, "Shut up."
"Fine, I won't say, nor reply to your hissing. I wasn't offending you or anything, though… Naruto-kun,"
Naruto turned to the dreary spectacle vaguely imprinted on his window. His breath mingled with the glass forming a haze around his brooding face and the reflection of the man behind him, "I thought that you were the seer, yet you didn't even know about this?"
…
"No." Bosatsu solidly replied, "There are some things I can see, and there are some things I can miss. The world is too hazy to look at so sharply, but there are some things I can do to help."
"What can you possibly do to help me?"
…
"I feel that there's something I'm supposed to know." Naruto whispered, "But what?"
Bosatsu grinned, "I want you teach you something. A forbidden art from the center of this world: Demon art, if you will."
Naruto faced Bosatsu fully, his eyes twinkling with wonder and hidden eagerness, "And how'll that help me, exactly?"
Bosatsu smiled, "Uchiha Sasuke is a powerful ally, enough to crush those he cares for" he said, "So he is also a powerful enemy, enough to kill those who hurt him,"
…
"Wha—"
"Are you that DENSE to understand?" Bosatsu ludicrously hollered, "I'm not supposed to directly say the things I predict! It's a part of demon law!"
"FINE! Just stop screaming!"
"Just do what I tell you and trust me,"
Naruto raised an eyebrow and chortled, "Trust you?" he said, "Give me two reasons to trust you with my life, then you can teach me anything you want to teach me,"
The elderly man looked at the young one quizzically, watching him cross his arms as if daring him to answer his difficult question. Two reasons to make a person trust you? Troublesome indeed…
Bosatsu scratched his chin and replied confidently, smirking with a knowing glance, "All right," he said, "One reason is that I'm one of the very few you've conversed with recently, and two: deep within the recesses of your mind… you're DYING to learn something new. And the new thing I'm about to teach you is something which can make you powerful enough to destroy GODS."
… Gods?
Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and nodded, "Good enough,"
A/N: I'm so sorry that I was so late, but I was really busy and all. I still hope that you guys are still interested, though. Please, R&R, and again, I apologize...