Okay house keeping first I do not own Naruto, Neji, Sasuke or Kakashi and I don't want to own Jiraiya.
I want everyone to know that this chapter was really hard to write. So please feel free to review and tell me what you think. Also so you don't try to roast me alive :D please keep in mind that all the characters I will use will be rounded characters; by that I mean that they have good and bad sides and are not perfect so they make mistakes…….. and can be redeemed.
Now for the fun part I am so excited I got reviews!!!!! You guys really made my week with the reviews. I just want to say Arigato to everyone who reviewed, marked me as either a favorite author or story and to all of you who wanted updated with new chapters! Talk about a natural high!
I did have a few plot questions and I hope that I answered them in this chapter after consideration I did agree with you Suifox
PS I appreciate your patience while I try to learn how to use ffnet and html...pray for me oO
Discord
Naruto looked at the closed large double doors of the Hokage's office and shook his head; he was not
oblivious to the fact that Shizune was surprised by his behavior. He was nevertheless pleasantly
surprised that it was much less of a shock for Tsunade, someone he considered a older sister, as he was
aware that he had defiantly not shown her the best of himself as of late. Masks were like that, they hide
you from the people you wanted them to but they also concealed you from those you didn't necessarily want
to hide from. Well the cat was out of the bag so to speak and there would be no turning back now as
Tsunade wouldn't allow that.
So now he thought 'I need to find my teammates and talk to them before it's all over Konoha' and with this
in mind he headed down one floor to the Mission Room. In the scheme of things it could be considered
dangerous to have the Mission Room immediately below the Hokage's office and private quarters yet it
allowed the Hokage to be present when necessary to give out the high risk missions without disturbing the
flow of work to be done both by the Hokage and the Shinobe. It was considered an acceptable risk to the
Hokage as the Shinobe were believed to be loyal and there was of course the added barrier of the ANBU who
stood guard at all times at the entrance to the Hokage's floor. Much to the disgust of said ANBU there
was a clear order by Tsunade that allowed Naruto access whenever he felt the need to see her. He was to
be treated as family and trusted with unlimited access to the Hokage and Shizune .Trust wasn't an issue
in allowing Naruto access to Tsunade, as contrary to popular belief, Naruto was not considered to be just
the "Demon Fox" and therefore a danger by the ANBU. It was just his behavior that they perceived as
disrespectful to the village leader, which made the ANBU guards want to hit him over the head so it was
quite stunning to them to see proper decorum displayed by Naruto on a visit to the office.
Naruto felt the stares of the ANBU assigned to the Hokage's section of the building as he made his way
down to the Mission Room and knew what they were about so it was with a very sheepish smile that he said
"excuse me" as he exited the floor to enter the area that was used as a Mission Room. He knew that since
he had been in a Medic-nin coma until recently (to be allowed to heal) that as soon as he was stable
Tsunade would have let Sakura and Kakashi know and then more than likely sent them on a mission. This had
been an unfortunate pattern for Team 7 in the past few years.
True it wasn't always him that was hurt; in fact Sakura, Kakashi and on occasion Sai had all been forced
to stay in the Konoha hospital until wounds had been healed to the medical staff's satisfaction. In fact
the frequency of these visits had become so great that Tsunade established tat she would inform the
remaining Team 7 members when the hurt member was stable at which time the rest of Team 7 would be put on
the active duty roster because she stated "I can't have one of my best teams on perpetual medical leave".
So it was decided amongst the Team 7 members that the recovering member would wait at their "bridge" on
the day of the teams expected return date so that they could meet for dinner. In fact it was also
something of a tradition that Sakura and he would argue about where the team would eat. He knew of course
that it had not come to either Sakura or Kakashi's attention that ninety percent of the time he let
Sakura choose the restaurant so that the team ate a variety of foods. He knew that everybody just assumed
that he loved Ramen that much but the truth was that Ramen was a cheap filling food and he was lucky
enough that when he was smaller the owner of the Ramen shop was open minded and felt that he was getting
treated badly. Now that he was able to afford other foods and was treated somewhat better by the village
he had choices open to him, choices he intended to enjoy.
Finally reaching the Mission Room he noticed that Anko was on duty today and was happy to be able to kill
two birds with one stone. It was a little know fact that Anko used to be Hayate's sparring partner when
he was practicing his ' Dance of the Crescent Moon' which no doubt made her one of the top five swordsmen
in the village. It was one of his ambitions to be able to wield a sword with the best and he had already
trained to a level that he needed an expert to help him. With this in mind he approaches Anko cautiously
as he is aware that she can be as temperamental as Sakura.
With a polite bow Naruto says "Hello Anko-san".
Anko looks up from the papers in front of her at Naruto and her eyes widen somewhat as she replies" What
do you need gaki?"
Naruto smiles and says "well I actually need to ask you about two things today Anko-san".
Anko was now very interested in this Naruto standing in front of her and decided to hear his questions
" Okay gaki what's the first question?" she asks
" Well I was curious to see when Team 7 is due in from their mission….umm if they were assigned one that
is" Naruto says.
She looks at her papers and says "well you're in luck as it looks like that pervert and the Hokage's
apprentice is due back today from a C class mission".
Anko then raises her eyebrows in the universal sign for 'what else' and waits to see what Naruto has to
say next.
Naruto looks with a serious expression and approaches the more difficult of the two questions "Anko-san I
was hoping that you would be willing to be my Sensei for my sword training" he says.
Anko's expression was to say the least surprised and her response was evidence of this "Do what?" she
says.
Naruto still looking quite serious says "I am aware that you were Hayate-san's exercise partner before he
was killed which says a lot about your skill. I know that this is not common knowledge and I promise you
I will keep it that way. I don't know why you want it to be a secret but I will respect it nonetheless,
but would you consider teaching me?"
Anko looks at him searchingly and after a few moments of close inspection says " Well gaki you have
managed to surprise me and at the same time show me that by keeping this secret until now that you have
grown more mature. It is something that I want to keep quiet about but not for any underhanded reason,
but I would like to pass on Hayate's legacy to someone. So yeah I will teach you but don't expect me to
be easy on you. The things I want to teach you require hard work and dedication, so if you slack off at
anytime I will drop you like a bad habit do I make myself clear?"
Naruto bows to Anko before saying with a smile on his face" Hai Sensei!"
She shakes her head at him and says "all right gaki get out of here and expect to start practice in one
week."
He smiles at her and waves on his way out the door saying "see you next week Anko-san".
Naruto ran out the door and down the steps not hearing Anko's last comment "hmmm….well this should be
interesting."
Naruto knew that he would need to hurry at this point as it was getting later in the day and knowing
Sakura she would be hurrying Kakashi along in the hopes of getting to the baths early to soak off the
road dirt. He always teased her that real Kunoichi didn't care about dirt but she always responded that
this was the reason he didn't have a girlfriend yet. He always wondered if he should tell her the truth
but then he would worry that she would assume he was interested in the wrong member of Team 7, not to
mention he really didn't want Kakashi to know.
His trip through town was quick and eventless so it was in short order that he found himself waiting at
the bridge wondering how he was going to explain his thoughts and new position to his friends about the
fruitlessness of continuing to try to 'rescue' someone that was were they wanted to be. He knew it would
be hard fro them but he was not ready to loose another important person in this sad fight.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he was caught unaware when a deep voice said right behind his left ear
"Yo". He jumped and looked behind him suppressing a shiver to see Kakashi with a quizzical look in his
eye and ever present book for once not in his hands. He looked tired he thought but not wounded and with
Kakashi that was something to be grateful for. Naruto looked at Kakashi and smiled then said "Sensei it's
good to see you home in one piece".
Kakashi smiled at Naruto and replied "Ma… well I'm not the one to have just been released from the
hospital". He then placed his hands in his pockets and again looked at Naruto with a quizzical stare
before asking "where are your clothes Naruto?'
Naruto looked down with a grimace that he knew that Kakashi would misinterpret for it had just now come to
his attention that he had put on the clothes that Iruka Sensei had left for him but like Lee, Iruka did
not approve of his hiding his true self. With this in mind Iruka had brought his 'normal' clothes which
consisted of a plan black long sleeve t-shirt, dark gray jacket and a pair of black cargo pants. He
hadn't really noticed the clothes since they were his but he also wasn't ready to come completely clean
with Sakura and Kakashi just yet. He looked up at Kakashi and acknowledged that he was also hoping that
Kakashi would notice his maturity with out having to be told, and now that Tsunade-neechan was aware, the
time for this was limited. So he scratched his nose rather shyly and said "Iruka Sensei brought these for
me to wear out of the hospital". Not a lie thought Naruto but not the complete truth either.
Kakashi squinted his eye (his version of a smile) and said "well that explains it".
Naruto smiled but felt disappointed that he had not noticed that for borrowed clothes the fit was perfect,
but decided to ask a more pressing question " Sensei where's Sakura?"
Kakashi looked up from his now open book and said "Ma well I believe you need to look over your shoulder".
Naruto looked behind him to see a very tired but healthy looking Sakura who appeared to have a small
problem at this moment with Kakashi as she said "alright Sensei what's up with the burst of speed at the
gate"!
He just peered over his book and smiled at Sakura and said "consider it training for the exams". At this
comment both Kakashi and Sakura looked at Naruto sheepishly before rushing into speech.
Sakura smiled at Naruto and said "I'm glad to see you are doing okay Naruto. In fact to celebrate why
don't we get Ramen?"
Naruto smiled faintly at them as if in agreement with the plan for Ramen but was at the same time consumed
by the thoughts running in his head now about how neither Kakashi nor Sakura felt he was qualified to
take the Jonin exam. It was also clear that after what they perceived to be an insult that both felt that
taking him for Ramen would solve everything, right now Naruto was sure that Iruka and Lee were right and
he had carried this pretense on too long. He looked at the concerned looks on his teammates faces and
said "that's fine but first I need to talk to both of you about an important decision".
Kakashi put his book away and asked him 'what decision Naruto".
Naruto looked at both of his teammates with sober expression and began what he knew would be the most
difficult conversation of his life.
"I know that Lee was killed in this last recovery attempt". He said observing the sad look on Sakura's
face and the noted lack of expression on Kakashi's. He peered out over the bridge and continued by saying
"we lost an important friend and Shinobe in a venture that is starting to appear futile". He turned back
to Sakura and Kakashi and noted their looks of confusion and then again looked out to the end of Team 7's
bridge and said "Sasuke was my first true friend and my best friend". He came to mean as much to me as a
brother, something I had never experienced before but for him this was not enough. He couldn't let go of
the past long enough to see that strength, true strength comes from hard work, inner strength and the
desire to use that strength to protect the people most important in your life. Call it the 'will of fire'
if you want but this is what would have made Sasuke strong enough to bring justice to his brother.
Instead he choose the quick way to power and let the cursed seal do his thinking and made his bed with
snakes as it were and now all he sees is revenge. Revenge has never brought anyone back from the dead and
history never remembers the ones who seek it, history remembers the hero's and the martyrs who gave
themselves for their family, friends and village like Lee".
"Naruto what are you saying". Sakura asked?
"Please let me finish it's important." He replied.
"Okay Naruto finish" Kakashi said.
Naruto nodded his head in acknowledgment and continued with what he needed to say. "It's been five years
and we have accomplished at most to delay Sasuke's body being used as a vessel but our luck will only
holds so long in that regard and with each attempt at rescue one of us ends up in the hospital with
serious injury. It is inevitable that one of us is going to be killed in one of these attempts as Sasuke
holds no quarter and has grown powerful. While we hold back in an effort to bring him home he places no
such limits on himself and we are the ones to suffer as he clearly states time an again that he will not
return to Konoha. He is my best friend and brother but it's time we realized that when he let the cursed
seal think for him he made his decision and now whether its the seal or Sasuke acting on this choice the
result is the same. So, with the knowledge that we can't afford to loose anymore of the precious people
in our lives in futility I talked to Tsunade-neechan and told her that as much as it hurts we are going
to give up on the rescue attempts of Sasuke".Naruto had barley finished what he was saying when he felt
the right side of his head explode in pain he staggered several steps down the bridge before he regained
his balance to see what had happened only to see Sakura with a look of fury and hate on her face. With
out hesitation she delivered the second blow to the opposite side of his face and screamed "who the hell
do you think you are to decide we give up on Sasuke. What, the village idiot thinks that after one speech
that has words that have more than four letters in it that he is smart enough to decide something
important like this!"
Naruto tried to stand and say something in defense but Sakura jumped at him and landed another two chakra
reinforced blows one to the head and to the abdomen before again screaming at Naruto "you coward you're
just afraid to face Sasuke because you know that he will always be better than you! It must drive you
crazy that everyone in the village wants Sasuke back and couldn't care less about you!"
He stood just in time to avoid the next blow and stumbled down the bridge to the grassy area on the other
side and attempted again to talk to Sakura "Sakura please….." was all he got out before Sakura caught up
to him and preceded to land blow after chakra filled blow on him all the while screaming at him that he
was jealous of Sasuke and that he would never be the Shinobe that Sasuke was. In the normal course of
events he would have been more that capable of protecting and even defending himself but the surprise of
the attack combined with the fact that he was chakra depleted from healing lead to what was obviously a
one sided battle with him receiving all the damage. During the attack he looked several times for Kakashi
and wondered 'where is he and why isn't he stopping her' after all Kakashi had to be aware that this was
the right decision as hard as it was to make?
Naruto thought Sakura would never stop but suddenly the blows stopped if not the pain and Naruto heard
Sakura say "there has never been a day in the past five years that I haven't wished it was Sasuke here
instead of you! I knew you wouldn't keep your promise!" He lay there in the grass for how long he didn't
know absorbing the pain of the assault and the words Sakura rained down on him and wondered why? Why did
Kakashi let her do it? Why didn't he stop her? Where was he?
Once he recovered enough to look around he noted that Kakashi in fact hadn't left he was walking toward
where Naruto lay his body a mass of pain. He looked at Kakashi and said the one word that mattered to him
at this moment "why". He hoped Kakashi would have an answer that he would understand as too why Sakura
did this and why he let her. They were teammates if nothing else right, at that point he didn't even care
that Kakashi always preferred Sasuke or that he would never know or return those hidden feelings that he
had for the older Shinobe.
Instead what he got was more pain, intense soul killing pain as Kakashi looked at him and said "you should
see the Hokage about those injuries." Then before Kakashi turned his back and walked away he said " you
know Naruto I thought that eventually you would grow up and I believed that you had understood my lesson
about not leaving your friends I'm disappointed to know I was wrong."
He lay in the grass long enough for early afternoon to change to early evening before he struggled to his
feet and began to walk. At first there was no destination in mind as he wandered aimlessly around Konoha
but then he started up the Hokage Mountain, his walk was slow and painful with multiple stops before
reaching the top. Once there he sat down and watched the sky proceed to do its nightly dance of color and
let the rapidly cooling wind cut through his jacket while reliving the spiteful words from his so called
teammates.
The Present
The wind cutting through his jacket was no colder than his thoughts as looked out over the village now no
more than shadows with the occasional sparkle of light spilling here and there to illuminate the sporadic
street corner or house. His thoughts dark and his soul in chaos he didn't notice the presence of another
person behind him until he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up, with some difficulty, to then hear
in a gentle soft voice " Naruto lets get you inside and your injuries treated".
Naruto said with his eyes flat and his voice without emotion "okay Ebisu Sensei".