Chapter 3 Surveying the Damage

It wasn't until the next morning that they were able to find out exactly how much damage occurred. The rain had tapered off to a nasty drizzly mist. The walked to Naruto's house, bundled up against the wet and cold. There was a crowd standing around the edge of the property. They were relieved to see that Naruto was unhurt. He didn't really notice. His eyes where glazed and held a looked of deep sorrow and smoldering defeat.

A cop drove up. "Come on everyone, back up. Stay back. There power lines tangled in this mess." He looked around. "Was anyone in the house when the tree fell?"

Kiba spoke up. "No sir." He pushed Naruto forward. "The house is Naruto's. He wasn't home when it fell."

"That's good." The cop turned to Naruto. "Was anyone else in the house?"

"No sir."

"Any animals?"

"No sir."

A van pulled up. "Holy hell," said the guy in charge, "Was anyone in there."

"No, thank god," answered the cop.

"Well, they've turned off the electricity so it's safe to start clearing away the debris. The men grabbed their tools and started cleaning away the power lines and the exploded transformer. They managed to cut away most of the tree that had fallen into the front yard before they had to call it quits. "Sorry kid," said the guy in charge. "We've gotten as much as we can cleared away. You'll have to get rid of the rest on your own."

Naruto nodded, still in shock.

The guy looked concerned. "You okay kid?"

It was Kiba that answered, "He's okay. He's just in shock."

The guy nodded. "Well. you be careful/ We've got the power lines cleared away so it's safe to start messing with the tree. I'd stay out of the house for now, at least until you can have someone out here to inspect it. I don't know how stable the building is."

The boys nodded. The man and his crew left. The cop got some information from Naruto and roped off the area before leaving. The crowd slowly dispersed, most offering their condolences to Naruto.

Kiba practically had to drag Naruto home. Naruto didn't seem to want to walk anywhere. They got about half way there we they saw Iruka.

"Naruto!" yelled Iruka as he ran up. "Are you...pant...pant...okay?"

Naruto looked up. He smiled weakly. "I'm okay Iruka-sensei."

"I saw the news. Where you in the house when the tree fell?"

"No, I wasn't home."

"Oh thank god..." He looked at Kiba. "Where you there?"

"No. I was at home when it happened. We saw the tree fall from my living room."

"We? Naruto was at your house?"

"Yes Iruka-sensei. I was at Kiba's. He was letting me stay with him until the storm cleared."

"Your roof was leaking again, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's got to be one of the few occasions when a leaky roof ever saved someone's life."

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, that's true."

Iruka pulled Naruto into a hug. "I was really worried about you Naruto. I'm so glad you're okay."

For the second time in 2 days, Naruto broke down.

Kiba smiled. You're wrong about being an orphan Naruto. You have Iruka...