Note: a somewhat dull chapter. please, bear with me, the action will come soon enough. And tomorrow I will also post WR.
Thanks to all the people that reviewed me!
StarsOfYaoi: I am glad you all like this fic, there will be a lot of angsty on Naruto's part, and it will be also Sasuke's fault. But don't think this will be rushed with Naruto crying out his love for Sasuke or the opposite. I love IC–ness. And I hate what goes on under "I don't love him, but even if I do, he doesn't love me" bull–shit crap.
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Rating: T
Summary: (SasuNaru, NejiShika, eventually others) Naruto is trying to forget his former team, busy in Chuunin missions. But as his past is left uncover and many of his kind start to appear, old bonds are stretched to the maximum.
Warnings: yaoi, boy x boy relationship, angsty, torture, and such. Mental as well. Flames will be used to warm up food. OC warning as well.
Disclaimer: Not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
–Flashbacks, memories, dreams–
……………………………………………
Normality
Chapter 02: Reveal
Naruto was silent and uncharacteristically concentrated as he read twice the mission's details of the scroll Tsunade had handed to them; Neji had been the first one to read it, since he was the older one and for now, he would be the leader of the team.
After all, he was the most qualified to take up that position, and all the others agreed on that without any objection.
Now the newly formed team (they still needed a name, and Neji didn't accept Naruto's suggestion to label it 'Ramen') wore their Chuunin jackets, though it clashed horribly with Naruto's orange outfit. Neji was the only one without it, because his clan demanded him to look cool and that damn vest was not cool at all.
At least Lee looked just a little more green than usual…
Unknown to Naruto and Lee, Shikamaru and Neji were determined in forcing them to change their clothes in the near future. If they were to take on missions seriously, they could not allow such shiny colour (orange), that was easily spotted, and about Lee… well that was pure sense of fashion.
The mission was a middle C–ranked one, nothing too hard on their part especially since it was their first one, but a good way to start as Chuunin. The team would have to move to the Kaze no Kuni to intercept a secret scroll from a group of Ame nin; the scroll was important, and a small group of nins from Kusa no Kuni (the Grass Country) was chasing it.
The missing–nins were not particularly strong, but Amegakure had grown weaker in the last few months, since the death of the Country leader by the hands of the Kusa nins, and had required help from Konoha.
Amegakure and Konohagakure had never really been allies, many years of animosity had kept the two villages in a constant state of tension; but after the latest Chuunin exams and the Oto nins' attack on both Konoha and Suna, that tension had turned into a need of stability.
Ame was not a pacific country on the inside, and the growing contrast with Kusa only caused major damage on the already troubled land. Seeking protection from a strong country, the Country leader had asked Konohagakure for help.
Unfortunately Konoha was already doubling its normal work because of the death of Sandaime, and even if now the Godaime Hokage was doing a great work, slowly but surely raising Konoha to its full power once again, there were many things that could not be prevented.
Kusagakure had declared war against Ame, and with an assassination had gotten rid of the Country leader.
Such news had arrived to Konoha in no time, but the situation was unsure in the Village of the Leaf as well, mostly because of the sudden and unexpected attempted defection of the last Uchiha (that had been hastily hidden to the villagers, and to most of the shinobi as well in fear that the news would spread to other countries) to Orochimaru.
Now that the situation in Konoha was slightly better, Tsunade had decided to intertwine a relation with Ame, where the council and the clan leaders were already working for the new Country leader's election, and get the Grass country (that was relatively small and weak compared to the Hi no Kuni) to lower their lust for power.
Of course of the four teens of Naruto's new team, only Neji was aware of the current uncertain situation in the Ame no Kuni, mostly because Hiashi had taken his nephew's training under his tutelage, and was treating him like family and not like a slave anymore.
That meant Neji was now more informed on the politics of Konoha with its allies and enemies, included Amegakure and Kusagakure.
The Ame nins would be meeting Naruto and his team in the Kaze no Kuni mostly because it was a neutral territory (Ame and Konoha's countries were separated by none other than Kusa no Kuni) that had no relations with either Grass nor Rain, and because the type of landscape was unfamiliar to the grass nins.
"So… we have to find a group of Rain shinobi and take a scroll from them?" Naruto scrunched up his face and closed his eyes, resembling vaguely a fox. "I don't find this a hard mission!"
"Amegakure is in a war against Kusagakure, and Grass nins will do anything to get their hands on that scroll," Tsunade explained, her face showing nothing but seriousness. "I am certain you will protect it, and I am sure you will make sure to come back unharmed as well".
Neji stepped forwards as Naruto passed the scroll to Shikamaru and Lee, and nodded with a determined expression, white eyes darkening slightly; the Hokage shared a look with him, knowing he was aware of the danger, "We won't fail the mission, Tsunade–sama" he stated.
Tsunade smiled and nodded to the young teen.
The four straightened, and turned away, ready to start their mission, but before they could get out of Tsunade's office, the blonde suddenly cleared her voice and bit her lip.
"Naruto, come back here for a moment, I need to speak to you" she said. The three remaining boys looked at the two, but Naruto motioned them to go.
"I'll be there in a moment," he assured them, smiling brightly.
He'd noticed Tsunade was not smiling anymore, and he had the feeling it concerned him.
The door closed, and he flopped down on the seat in front of the desk, blue eyes blinking at the Hokage curiously.
"What, Tsunade obaa–chan?" he asked, trying to lighten the sudden tension in the room.
"Naruto, I want to be sincere with you about your promotion, because I know you deserve the truth" she started. Her eyes were sad, but determined as well, and Naruto nodded. "The Elders' council was against it," Tsunade sighed and leaned on her hands, watching Naruto's reaction. "But I refused to listen to them".
At first, Naruto's first reaction was to jump up, eyes widening in shock, but then he thought about her words and realized the meaning.
The council did not trust the demon holder with more power than he already had. Naruto knew that he'd been allowed in the academy because Sandaime had ordered the teachers, but they had never helped him in any way, refusing to explain to him the basics and the lessons if he were to not understand, this way preventing him for two years to pass the exam.
Now that he knew about Kyuubi it was easy to figure out why, but at the time, he'd simply lost two years (he'd started the academy two years before the others of his age because otherwise he would have been alone all day in his apartment, and unknown to the blond, Sandaime had already prevented five assassination attempts on him).
Naruto was not stupid. He could see why the council would not want him to get more power in the ninja rankings, because of his demon; they all believed him to be the demon.
But to know that Tsunade had forced it out of them, standing at his side, made him happy inside; he knew what it meant, to have the Hokage disagree with the council, but he felt glad she supported him.
"I was not the only one to stand by your side," Tsunade's face turned into a small smile, seeing Naruto's grateful eyes. "Jiraiya, too… and the head of the clan families defied the elders of the council as well".
Naruto's eyes widened in shock –the clan leaders had wanted him to be Chuunin?
Even though Naruto wasn't really interested in Konoha's politics, he knew that if he wanted to become Hokage he would have to know everything about them; as it was, he knew that the village had two councils –the Clan council and the Elder council.
The two councils had separate meetings, but once in a while, if It concerned things that had to be decided with impartiality, they would meet up together; the family clan heads were members of the first council, whilst the second council, controlled by the elder villagers and shinobi, made decisions regarding strictly the village's internal politics.
Both worked for the welfare of the village, but they still were under the direct control of the Hokage.
"Naruto, you don't know it yet, but you're not alone anymore. The head of the Hyuuga has respect for you after what you did for his nephew and his daughter, and the head of the Akimichi, the Nara and the Inuzuka also respect you, mostly because their sons are your friends".
Naruto blinked. This was unexpected, to say the least; he'd grown to be hated by everyone, and to see the parents' hatred turned to the children. He'd met people who did not hate him only when he entered team seven, but he would have never believed the head of the clan families would stand for him against the council elders.
He knew that his friend's fathers were part of the oldest family clans of Konoha, but he'd never realized just how influent they could be, if their grouped decisions could overcome the Elders'.
"You have all of us at your side, and those old gits have no right to step on you because of what they think" Tsunade's eyes flashed with rage. "Though, it's up to you now. They accepted your promotion, but they demand you to show your loyalty to Konoha, and that you have no intentions to destroy or betray it".
Naruto smirked, "they fear I will go, meet up with Itachi, and then join in Akatsuki?" he let out a small laugh, but the serious expression of Tsunade did not falter, making him sober up again.
"No, they fear you will lose to Kyuubi, because you don't have a good control of your chakra. The clan heads suggested you to be trained for that, and of course, this was what I was waiting for –Jiraiya is the one that will take this role".
"Ero–sennin!" Naruto was shocked.
The prospective of train under that man was both something he could look forwards to, and dread; he was aware that Jiraiya was strong, after all he'd trained the Fourth, and had been under Sandaime. But he was a pervert, before everything else.
"You can go now, Naruto," Tsunade smiled slightly at him. "One last thing. If you want to see if your friends trust you, try confiding in them first. If you were to use Kyuubi's chakra in a battle, without them knowing what you host, this will put all of you in danger".
Naruto nodded and left.
……………………………………………
The window of the Hokage's office opened without a sound, and a shape slipped in, standing against the frame and covering Tsunade's view of the Mountain; the blonde let her eyes trail to the man before letting out a small sigh.
Both knew Naruto had a long way to go, and that probably he would change to adapt himself to the challenges, as he was finally going to meet the worst aspect of being a shinobi, but both were sure Naruto would never get back of his word.
"So… he's finally going," Kakashi commented, staring lazily at the woman, his eye trailing towards the Hokage mountain a second later.
His voice was calm and collected and his only visible eye revealed nothing of his inner thoughts, but Tsunade was a medic nin. She could read posture and muscles and the barest flicker of an eye, and she knew Kakashi was not as calm as it would seem.
As a teacher, he cared for his students, but he'd been deprived of one and despite his faults, Kakashi had been a good sensei; he had his share of pain and sorrow, and had lost twice someone who was important for him…
"Yes," she replied evenly. It was not her business to pry into Kakashi's life, despite her position. "He'll be good, he still doesn't know how many care for him… not even my words can break through his carefully placed mask, because it's not me the one that can show him the truth".
Kakashi pulled out his orange book apparently from nowhere, and busied himself in it; anyone looking would have grimaced at this sight, and would have called him a pervert… but his eye could not really see the words on the paper. Everything in the book blurred away, and he could not concentrate.
He had a mask as well, and it wasn't the one covering half of his face. He could understand, he saw and noticed and still he'd failed.
"He refused the only one that can help, because he's also the one who caused him the majority of his pain," he reflected. The past was making its way in their present, but all of them were already aware of that.
Tsunade nodded.
"Their friendship is stronger than this, they need to recover it, but Naruto needs time. He'll come back, or at least he'll accept the fact, but I can't tell how much this will take".
Kakashi curved his eye in a smile, even though it wasn't entirely sincere, and shrugged.
"I just hope that friendship is mutual" he muttered.
Tsunade grimaced as Kakashi poofed away.
Slowly, she pulled out of a secret compartment of her desk a small bottle and a small blue cup, decorated with a black dragon all around its shape, and poured some of the clear liquid in the cup, sipping it slowly, savouring the burning sensation of the alcohol in her throat.
Rubbing the spot between her eyes with two fingers, Tsunade eyed the photos on a shelf next to the window; some of them had a thin layer of dust on them, but they looked cared over.
Clear eyes stilled on a particularly young face that was smiling towards her, and with a sigh, she dawned her sake.
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"I am glad we have some missions all together, this will let us create a bond!" Lee smiled at the other two teens who were next to him in front of the Hokage tower, then, he frowned. "I wonder why Naruto–kun asked for a Team change anyway…"
Shikamaru groaned, but he was asking himself the same question; though he was aware of the sudden tension between his blond friend and the Uchiha, he didn't know what had happened during the two's confrontation, at the Valley of End.
It had been Kakashi the one that took both home, and even though their condition wasn't the best, Shikamaru knew the real wounds had been mental, at least for Naruto; the blond took the meaning of friendship in a much deeper way than any other person and probably he felt not just betrayed by Sasuke, but also guilty.
Naruto deserved better than what he had. Shikamaru was Naruto's friend, and Lee and Neji as well. They would care for him. All of them remembered when Tsunade had called them and told them they would be teaming up with Naruto.
Shikamaru hoped he would be able to forget Lee and Gai's goodbye… even though both said they would still train every free day.
Neji moved his head to the left, sensing Naruto run up to them, and nodded towards the others, signalling they could start up for their mission.
As the blond teen approached the group, he motioned for them to stop and wait for him, his face seeming troubled; Lee blinked, noticing something was bothering his new team mate, and decided to cheer him up a bit.
"What does–" he opened his mouth but felt a hand close it up, and glancing on the side he noticed his rival Neji shaking his head at him.
Lee frowned, not understanding why he had to shut up, since he only had wanted to cheer up Naruto. The blond boy didn't seem to notice their behaviour, but put up one of his usual smiles and waved at them.
"Are you ready to go, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked him, deciding they would just have to wait for the blond to reveal them what was bothering him.
"Of course!" he beamed.
'I think Tsunade is right…' inwardly Naruto shuddered. He had an obvious problem with telling his new team about Kyuubi, mostly because he wasn't sure of what would be their reaction, but he knew what the old hag meant.
If he were to use Kyuubi's power during one of their missions, even changing appearance (he was aware of how he appeared because he felt it), his team would be shocked and maybe do something that could put all of them in danger out of fear or surprise.
Besides, he tried to reassure himself, if they were his friends, they would not care… much. they would… understand…
Neji stepped at his right, locking eyes with him "anything you need, you can rely on us" he said levelly, then stared in front of him. "We are team mates and friends, you are not forced to face everything alone".
The Hyuuga knew how important friendship was, and he had to thank Naruto for that; now he wanted to help Naruto just as much as the blond had helped him. Facing everything by himself would only hurt him.
Naruto blinked, stunned; he'd acted as usual, but they had noticed. It had never happened before, with his old team. Sakura would have snorted and called him a stupid, Kakashi maybe would have noticed, but would have said nothing because it wasn't his place to intervene, and Sasuke… he would have snorted in disgust.
Not that Team Seven didn't care, Naruto knew that because they had helped each other in a lot of situations… and he cared for them deeply…
But no one had ever… no one had ever noticed, no one had ever offered him to share his troubles.
Naruto smiled. He felt he'd made the right decision.
……………………………………………
They moved swiftly through the forest, following a scheme Shikamaru had explained in a couple of seconds; all of them were determined and ready to fight off anything that could come their way, and they had complete faith in their companions.
First was Lee, because being the faster one among them could run ahead and scout back to the group; a green blur among the leaves and the trees, Lee moved without strain nor hesitation, slowing down every once in a while to report to his friends.
Second was Shikamaru, who kept an eye on the surroundings for any kind of trap (the dangers were not just from the Kusa–nins, but also from random lower ninja, thieves or bandits), tense and brain spinning.
Third was Naruto, for obvious matters, and he was busy focusing on his pace, trying to not think about what he had to reveal to his friends. He knew he should be paying more attention to his surroundings and that this was not professional for his first mission as a Chuunin, but he couldn't help it.
Neji was the last one, switching his Byakugan from activated to dormant every now and then due to the chakra waste it required.
They were not used to move without a Jounin sensei, but the fact that they were all friends helped them a lot and put them at ease; without even noticing, they communicated with small hand signs and glances, and continued moving towards Kaze no Kuni.
For the first day, since their departure from the village until evening they moved flawlessly and silently, surprisingly enough since two of the team were known to be anything but quiet –but then again, many things were different when in mission.
At a certain point, one hour after the sun had fallen behind the line of the horizon, Neji lifted his right hand slightly to signal the rest of the team to stop, moving in front of everyone else with a swift jump; Shikamaru, Naruto and Lee stopped and grouped near their leader, who nodded once to tell them they would stop here for the night.
"Shikamaru, where are we approximately?" Naruto cracked his knuckles, feeling rather contented for their fast pace.
"We should be halfway through, we've been moving fast and found no problems until now," the Nara replied, munching on his lower lip. "We should get some rest, and take turns awake in case someone approaches".
The rest of them nodded, and fifteen minutes later they had camped for the night; none of them had brought a tent for obvious practical reasons, but all of them had a sleeping bag. Neji suggested to place them to form a circle around their fire camp, that way they would be protected and control around them without fear of being attacked by behind.
Whilst Lee arranged the fire with some sticks he'd collected, Naruto was busy placing around a few traps (after all he was the prankster of Konoha, and his knowledge of traps was huge), his thoughts still fixed on what Tsunade told him.
The moment all of them were together in front of the cracking fire, Neji sighed –the matter couldn't be avoided anymore.
"Naruto," he started, eyes serious and concentrated. "You've been unfocused all day. Care to explain why?" he hadn't meant to sound this harsh, so he decided to go for a more personal approach. "We're worried about you, Naruto, and you can confide in us".
Naruto bit his lip, knowing they had noticed his behaviour and silently blaming it on himself. He was in a mission, and he needed to speak with them…
He'd been stupid thought, he should have told them before the start of their mission, so if they had some problems they could have rejected his presence in the team…
And yet, they deserved to know. Now, when things were not that bad, and they were still near Konoha.
"I need… I need to tell you all something but I fear about what you'll think of me afterwards…" he started, his voice trembling slightly as he fidgeted, not sure of how to break the subject. He wasn't good with subtlety.
"Naruto–kun, if that's what will help you relax, tell us," Lee smiled brightly at him, confused by his behaviour, a little bit worried, but also curious.
"How troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered, rolling his eyes.
Naruto swallowed hard, this would be the first time he told someone of his burden and of his inner strength. "I…"
'Hell with it all,' a part of him scolded him. 'Just tell them already! It'll be easier!'
"I am the vessel of Kyuubi no kitsune!" he yelled, his voice echoing through the meadow, the name falling on his ears like a dead weight.
For a second everything was silent, and Naruto shut his eyes close, heart thumping madly in his chest. Now that he'd said it aloud, the words hung on his head and he felt both lighter (as if a weight had been lifted from him) and anxious.
"I understand if you don't want me on this mission anymore," he stammered, not looking up but frantically waving his arms around, moving backwards from his sitting position next to the fire. "And if you want me to move from your team to another I won't…"
"Naruto–"
"… I won't oppose to that, and if you're disgusted because I didn't say anything before…"
"Naruto–"
"… and if you won't I will never speak with you again and–"
"Naruto!"
Naruto's mouth snapped shut as he forced himself to look at the three teens. He didn't even realize his hands were trembling, but a deep fear of rejection and hatred was clenching his chest painfully.
"Naruto, it's ok, I already knew" Neji shook his head slightly.
"I do too," Shikamaru blinked tiredly and yawned.
Naruto was left speechless by that.
Many thoughts raced through his mind, preventing him from voicing them aloud, confusing him even more.
'They already… how? Why? Why aren't they rejecting me? Did they know from the start? Why didn't any of them speak? Why isn't it bothering them?'
"I… you… how… when…" Naruto closed his mouth once again.
"Did you think I wouldn't recognize the chakra you used at the Chuunin exams?" Neji's smile was faint but it was there. "It wasn't that hard to realize, at least not with a bit of thinking".
"Thinking is what I do all day, and you are a topic really interesting to ponder on" Shikamaru smirked at the dumbfounded expression of the blond.
"But then… why are you still…" Naruto shook his head, his words were failing him.
"We never told you because we were waiting for you to tell us by your own will" Neji shrugged. "It was not our place to tell everyone after all".
"And you're ok with that?" the blond was completely shocked.
Lee blinked confusedly at the other three.
"Why wouldn't we be ok with it? It's not like being the host of a demon would make you any different to us! I admire your burning flame, Naruto–kun! Such show of youth and determination! Up against everyone else!" he would have started ranting, but Neji once again placed his hand on his mouth.
"If that's what bothers you, Naruto, then I think you have nothing to worry about. We are friends, no matter what".
Naruto felt a tug in his chest, once again he'd underestimated his friends and once again they showed him their care.
And once again, his smile was just as bright as the sun.
……………………………………………
"Hey, Ino–pig!"
The blonde's left eye twitched slightly, as she turned towards her best friend aka worst rival Sakura, grimacing as she stared at her.
Sakura was smiling, and waving at Ino with bright eyes; knowing her, she probably had left Sasuke moments before and was too happy to care about anything else.
Ino was a bit angered by this.
She and Sakura had never really been close friends, but their friendship was a good one, and their name–callings were just a way to express it. But then, they had been separated by Sakura's sudden crush on the Uchiha heir, to which Ino answered in her own way, as she too had fallen for the brooding dark haired boy.
But after Sasuke had tried (unsuccessfully) to defect, and was brought back by Naruto, Ino had opened her eyes to the painful truth. She would never interest the Uchiha enough to get his attentions, and the only thing he cared for was revenge.
She had always been a practical girl, and not one to follow blindly on a stupid crush to the point of obsession, that was why in the last few months she had settled her aim on something that was hard on its own, but at the same time completely different.
Whilst her crush for Sasuke slowly vanished, and her mind started seeing how much time she had wasted on the Uchiha, she had also started to see how foolish she was, and how foolish Sakura still was.
The pink haired girl wasn't getting any stronger, fussing all day over Sasuke, who on his part merely acknowledged her, but nothing more than that; she had forgotten to train, and she had forgotten her other team mate.
Naruto was the one who constantly improved. He had defeated Sasuke… or at least allowed Kakashi–sensei to take him back to Konoha.
And Naruto was the one who asked the Hokage to change teams now that he had been appointed Chuunin.
Sakura was delusional in many ways, but Ino had always thought she would place friendship above anything else.
She wasn't.
She was placing her crush above everything else.
And Ino didn't like this. She was ready to bet her allowance for the next ten missions that Sakura knew nothing of Naruto's decision or promotion.
But foolish and blind or not, the pink haired girl was her friend nonetheless, and she would act like a friend no matter what.
"Sakura!" she waved slightly at her, waiting for the girl to catch up with her.
"Ino–pig, it's been a while!" Sakura had a satisfied expression, happy she could brag with her rival and friend about all the time she was spending with her Sasuke–kun.
Totally oblivious to the frown on the blonde's face, Sakura smiled brightly and intertwined her fingers behind her back; it had been a very wonderful day for her, she'd spent all that time tending to Sasuke, and even though he had never even looked at her, nor responded to her chatting, she was sure it was mere shyness.
She knew Sasuke didn't want anyone to enter his hospital room, but she always entered no matter what.
Ino stared at her. She looked happy. Maybe she could just wait to see if she would snap out of her crush by herself, or if she would get hurt by it; Ino couldn't do anything, she would risk their friendship and she didn't want that.
"Say, big–forehead, have you seen Naruto lately?" she asked.
Sakura blinked.
Now that she thought of it, she hadn't seen Naruto at all ever since he and Sasuke came back. She was feeling a little guilty, but that way he would not interfere while she tried to win Sasuke's heart.
Besides, he was fine, he was always fine. He'd always been fine.
"No, but I heard he got out of the hospital" she smiled. "Ino–pig, where were you going?"
Ino sighed. It wasn't her place to tell Sakura about the changes in the team dynamics. She would realize that soon enough.
"I was going in the training area, want to join big–forehead?" she asked, hoping she would; a good sparring was what she needed now.
Sakura thought about it. She had been missing training, but Sasuke–kun was worthy it.
But a little bit of training would not hurt her, would it? It would relax her a bit, so she would be refreshed when she got back to Sasuke the next day.
"Sure! I'll beat you, just like I am beating you for Sasuke–kun's heart!" she smirked confidently.
Ino sighed, but followed her friend to the training area.
……………………………………………
StarsOfYaoi: so that was the third chapter. satisfied? No? will get better lately on.
Review?
Oh, I was wondering, would you like–accept–tolerate some yuri in this fic? It would not be InoSaku though… please, let me know. Also, you may have noticed I tend to appreciate Ino more than Sakura. Damn true.
But I won't make Sakura a weeping girl. She will just need some time to realize her mistakes and childish acting.