Welcome to the next chapter!! I hope you all have enjoyed the fanfiction so far. I got a lot of reviews as to who the person was... and you're all wrong! Ha ha... on my part. Ahem... Back to what I want to say. Thank you for everything, and enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I only own this plot line.
"Hey Naruto," the figure said swallowing some noodles. "I knew that you would be here this early." There was a kind smile on the scarred face of the chunnin.
"Iruka-sensei! You're back!" Naruto said a giant smile on his face. He glomped the father-figure and laughed.
Iruka laughed too. "Nice to see you too. How's it going?"
Naruto let go and took a seat next to him ordering some noodles of his own. "Okay. We found Hinata."
Iruka nodded, slurping up some noodles. "I heard. That's great. I'm sure Hiashi-sama is happy." Naruto nodded picking up a pair of chopsticks. "I also heard she lost her memory. How is that coming along?"
Naruto looked down. "It's going pretty good. She remembered something yesterday and I haven't heard anything for today yet." Teuchi sat the bowl down and Naruto broke his chop sticks with the traditional saying and eating a mouthful.
Iruka nodding understandingly. "Well you just got out here. I don't expect you to find out anything yet." They ate some more of their ramen in silence.
Ayame came out from the back and smiled at Naruto. "How are you feeling today Naruto-kun?" she asked.
Naruto looked up at her and swallowed. "I'm good, thanks."
Iruka looked at Naruto and then at Ayame. "Why wouldn't he be good? This little knuckle-head is always bursting with energy."
Ayame let out a small giggle before answering, "Because the other day he was really down and then yesterday he didn't come to dinner. Well I didn't expect him to after what I heard happened."
Iruka raised his eyebrows at Naruto, who was jamming ramen into his mouth to refrain from talking.
The gennin didn't want to start yelling at Ayame and then end up not getting anymore ramen and then being confronted by Iruka. But it really didn't matter; Iruka was going to ask him sooner or later.
"If you eat like that Naruto-kun you won't be able to breath." Ayame said with a gasp from how fast he was putting them into his mouth.
Naruto swallowed and grinned. "I'm fine. See."
Ayame shook her head. "You shouldn't do that," she scolded him and walked to the back.
Naruto gave a small sigh of relief, forgetting Iruka sitting next to him.
"What was that all about Naruto?" Iruka asked making Naruto jump.
"I-it was nothing." Naruto said waving his hands in the air. "Nothing at all."
Iruka gave him a hard stare. "It had to be something if you're reacting like this. What did you do now?" he asked, thinking that Naruto did something wrong.
"I didn't do anything! I swear!" Naruto exclaimed trying to avoid making Iruka angry. He didn't want to get yelled at within the first half and hour of seeing the guy again.
"Naruto…" Iruka warned.
"Iruka-sensei! I'm serious! I didn't do anything." Naruto said firmly.
"Why are you two yelling?" Teuchi asked walking out from the back. He gave a small sigh. "There is no need to make so much noise at the beginning of the day."
"Sorry Teuchi-san." Iruka apologized. "Naruto's keeping something from me."
Teuchi raised his eyebrows. "Well, if he hasn't told you yet, then I guess he doesn't want anyone to know," he said rubbing his chin.
Naruto smacked his forehead, only to hurt his hand on his forehead protector.
So that's what it's for.
And now, Iruka was going to choke the answer out of him. "Is it that bad?" Iruka asked eyeing Naruto.
Teuchi chuckled and turned back to a pot of broth. Iruka gave him a curious stare and Naruto took the chance to get as far away as possible.
He dashed out of the restaurant and down the street. He had about a second before, "Naruto!" he heard Iruka yell from the restaurant, which was now a few blocks away.
He was going to have to stick to the ground or Iruka would find him. And there was no way he was going to tell him what had happened. No way.
He ran past shops, people, animals, and restaurants until he pulled out his fence-camouflage tarp and hid behind it.
Naruto managed to get in a few deep breaths before calming down.
Then the sun was shining in his eyes as Iruka stood in front of him holding the tarp. "There you are," he said with a smirk on his face. "Now, what's going on?"
Naruto gave a nervous laugh while waving his hands in front of him. "Nothing, Iruka-sensei. Just joking around."
Iruka didn't seem to be fooled by the lie. "Naruto… I'll find out eventually. I can always ask Tsunade-sama what happened."
Naruto's face fell. Tsunade-baa-chan would make it sound ten times worse than what it was. And she didn't even know half of the story. "Okay, okay. I'll tell you. Just don't go to Tsunade-baa-chan," he pleaded.
Iruka gave a nod. "Okay then. What happened?"
Naruto took in a deep breath. How was he going to tell the chunnin what happened?
"Well… you see… while we were out in the training field, showing Hinata around the village, she had asked me to fight her." He paused trying to find the right words.
Iruka gave him a funny look. "And what's so wrong about that?" he asked, thinking Naruto was done.
Naruto shook his head. "I'm not done Iruka-sensei!" He took a deep breath and let it all out.
Iruka blinked, absorbing what he had just heard. Naruto held his breath as he waited for Iruka to unleash his anger. But it never came.
"By the way that you told me, it sounds like an accident." Iruka said.
"What?" Naruto gasped out. "You're not mad at me?"
Iruka shook his head. "No, why would I be? It was an accident, right?" Naruto nodded. "Okay then. But Ayame seemed to be talking about something else, is there something you're not telling me?"
Naruto thought, what would Ayame know about that would make her react like that?
Then it hit him. But how would she know about that? Teuchi wouldn't tell her… right?
Iruka saw the look in Naruto's face and said, "Well?"
"Uh… Can we talk about this somewhere else… where no one can hear us?" Naruto asked looking around at the people on the street.
Iruka nodded and they both walked to the Great Stone Faces.
They both sat on top of the third's head and over looked the busy village below them. The wind was strong where they were and it pulled at their clothes and hair.
After sitting there for a few minutes in silence, Naruto told Iruka, "Yesterday, Hinata was waiting for me at Ichiraku. She said that she had been waiting for me and then she told be that she liked me." Iruka raised his eyebrows at this, but didn't say anything. "I didn't know how to react. I guess I was really shocked." Naruto fell silent.
A minute pasted in silence between the two.
"So, you don't know how you feel about her." Iruka said slowly. Naruto shook his head. "It sounds like you're more confused than anything. Nothing like this has ever happened to you before, right?" A nod. "So then, figure out how you feel."
"I'm not sure I understand what you are talking about Iruka-sensei." Naruto was looking up at him now with a confused expression on his face. He looked so lost and vulnerable to Iruka.
"Well, what do you think of Hinata?" Iruka asked.
"I think she's really nice… and a good teammate. She seems to look out for me a lot… Well, before she lost her memory when we were on missions." Then something occurred to him. "Do you think she liked me before she lost her memory?"
Iruka shrugged. "You should ask her when she gets her memory back."
"But, but what if she doesn't! What will I do then!" Naruto covered his mouth, realizing what he had just said.
Iruka looked at him and grinned. "There's your answer to our earlier question."
"That doesn't really mean anything, right?" Naruto asked starting to panic now.
Iruka smiled. "Ask yourself that."
Naruto fell silent and looked over the village.
"I… I suppose it does mean something…" Naruto mumbled after a long time.
Iruka nodded slowly. "Okay. Now, what does it mean to you?"
"It means… that…" Naruto stopped. He didn't really know what it meant to him. "I suppose… it means that there is someone who cares about me… in a different way than what you do, Iruka-sensei."
Iruka nodded. "Go on."
"And that… I should… react to it as I would to you…?" It was more of a question than an answer.
"You should react to it in a way that you want to react to it. Don't think that everyone is the same Naruto. Everyone has their differences and depending on the situation, they should be respected to those differences. This is one of those times," Iruka answered him.
Naruto looked back over the village. How should he respond to that? Is there a right way and a wrong way? It was all so confusing to him.
While he was thinking it over, Iruka stood up and stretched. "Naruto, I know this is hard for you, but I need to go and check in with the Hokage and see what is going on. Do you want to come?"
Naruto shook his head. "I'll stay here for a while and think. You'll find me here when you come out." He grinned.
Iruka scratched the back of his neck. "Alright. If you say so." And with that he jumped off.
Naruto leaned back and looked up at the sky. There were a few clouds blowing by and nothing else. He sighed and looked back out at the village.
What was he going to do? He's going to meet up with Hinata later that day and hopefully it won't be awkward.
I hope you all enjoyed it. It took me forever to do this. Too much deep thinking for me. Not to meantion I went to Europe...
Thank you so much for the reviews!!
