Sakura, in the span of her short life, had never felt this sort of sensation. Trembling, burning, a sensation that ate her up from the inside, and as she watched the scene before her unfold; Naruto yelling at Iruka, Yamato and Kakashi belittling her previous Sensei, the feeling only grew stronger.
She was fully aware, like the other's in Team Seven, what the situation with Naruto was now, the morbid situation that now revolved around him. Like always, he was the centerpiece of the puzzle, the Golden Boy, throwing his hate onto someone else.
This someone else happened to be Iruka, and Naruto was humiliating him.
Nervousness seized her, prevented her from moving forward, and fear of what other's would say to her clasped on her throat as she thought of a way to stop Naruto's accusation.
He didn't know Iruka's side of the story dammit! And knowing him, he couldn't wait to listen.
Sakura waged a way mentally, she wanted to shout, scream, do something to deter Naruto's senseless yelling. But her body wouldn't move, it was frozen like ice, the tension and anticipation overloading her.
And then, Naruto's voice resided, barely above a whisper, the moment no doubt meant to be personal, a moment that would sever Naruto's ties with his former Sensei forever.
The ice around Sakura melted, the moment was gone, and Naruto shoved past his Sensei, Yamato and Kakashi close by.
Sakura looked up at him, her expression pained and apologetic, however, Iruka looked at none of them.
When they were further away, in a less crowded part of Konoha, the sensation within Sakura flared again. She smiled to herself as she caught up to Naruto, and assumed that had Sai been around, that she would have been accused of faking her smile.
Rightly so, she thought.
Nevertheless, she moved through her two captains, satisfied that they were oblivious to her actual intentions. Knowing them, she supposed they believed she was going to comfort Naruto.
She prided herself in her deceptiveness.
She was going to do the exact opposite.
She tensed a little as she caught up to his side, his chakra so strong that it was almost physical. Nevertheless, she didn't back down. She marched to his side, a sad smile still plastered on her face.
"I can't believe him," Naruto said silently to Sakura, his voice low, "why...how could he not tell me?"
Sakura sighed and debated on what to say next, how to open her argument. Should she delve straight into her point, or should she respond with something that Naruto would enjoy hearing, that he would want to hear? Did it make sense to draw out the conversation in such a way that Naruto appreciated if Sakura was planning to speak her own opinion anyway?
"...Maybe," Sakura breathed, she was never good with words, "Maybe he did it for a reason, a good reason. I mean, Iruka Sensei wouldn't keep something this big from you for no reason. I think you were a little too harsh."
The atmosphere completely changed, and Sakura's smile faltered into a slight frown, Naruto's aroma thickened, and anger was seeping through his pores. Hr snorted. He'd expected Sakura to see his way, to be on his side with this one.
"Too harsh? How was I being too harsh? I trusted Iruka Sensei, he lied to me! How is that being too harsh? I was lonely, no family or anything, he kept away the only family I had! He was being selfish!" Naruto protested.
"The only family you had?" Sakura's voice raised on octave, the volume increasing just a smidge, "Naruto, Iruka was the first person in the village who accepted you, don't forget that."
Naruto kicked a rock in his path, the path to the Hokage tower.
He sighed and rolled his eyes.
"What could I expect...you're not like me," the words were automatic, almost emotionless, yet to Sakura, they held a deeper meaning, "you always had everything, you weren't lonely like me, so I shouldn't get mad at you for not understanding."
Sakura tried to reason with herself as her pace came to a sudden halt. Usually, had Naruto said something like this, she'd stay silent and follow him, but already, Yamato and Kakashi had past her and both cast curious looks at her.
Sakura threw any chance of civilized reasoning with Naruto out of the window, how dare he say something like that to her?
With a fiery step, Sakura passed through both Kakashi and Yamato, and hand outstretched and ready to claw onto Naruto's shoulder.
Roughly, she dug into the muscle of his shoulder and turned him around, a burning hand lifted in the air, ready to strike.
"What the hell Naruto!" her hand on his shoulder had snaked to his collar, and by now, she was holding him up, "Why do you keep on insisting that just because I'm not like you, not like Sasuke, not like any of you, that I can't understand what you've been through, why do I have to be different?!"
"Sakura, put Naruto down," Kakashi commanded swiftly, yet Sakura didn't listen. Her anger was getting the best of her.
Her hand was loaded with chakra, enough to send Naruto flying for miles if she sought it fit.
This wasn't playful Sakura, annoyed Sakura, this was Sakura intent on making Naruto suffer for whatever he'd said, and Kakashi and Yamato received just that.
She held her hand high, her eyes intently locked onto Naruto's blue ones, ready to strike at any given moment. An unspoken battle waged between the two, chakra was colliding with chakra, the killing intent leaking from both of them. Sakura was shaking, her palm ready to strike, ready to kill Naruto for what he'd just said, for how deeply he'd offended her.
She was no match for Naruto, but that didn't deter her perseverance.
Baffled, Kakashi stood shocked, she even glanced at him, she'd ignored him completely. This was a side of Sakura that Kakashi had never seen, and due to that, he had precautions. Kakashi knew too well that nInja could click at any given moment.
Sakura was no exception, and Naruto was in danger.
Her hand was quickly seized by Yamato, who no doubt harbored the same fear as Kakashi.
The situation was far from over, even with Sakura seized.
Meanwhile Naruto elaborated on what was happening.
So, just like Iruka, she was going to betray him too? Some friend she turned out to be.
"Just go Sakura," Naruto sneered, "I don't understand why you're even blowing up over this anyway, you're just like everyone else, and i am right. You don't understand."
Sakura yanked her hand away from Yamato's firm hold, "Whatever, i'm sorry that i'm not outstanding enough to be noticed by you, Naruto, that i'm just a plain Sakura Haruno, not a legend or anything of the sort. Guess that's how Iruka feels, huh? Well, whatever, bye Naruto, for good, you have enough friends to replace my absence, stronger and more "understandable". And one more thing. If you had to raise a son, if you were burdened, even if you were assisted with taking care of a child, could you be the ninja you are today?"
Sakura didn't even look at the three as she left, her fist were cleched and she was trembling. She continued her stride, she needed to cool off, go punch a tree or something.
She'd just lost her "best-friend" and didn't feel like talking to anyone else that consisted of the Rookie 9 or Guy's team. They'd just chastise her on the situation, most likely take Naruto's side and accuse her temper of getting the best of her. Perhaps she'd speak to Iruka Sensei? They'd both been practically abandoned by Naruto (though Sakura wanted it just as much as Naruto did), and Iruka did look really down afterwards. Naruto was closer to him than he was to Sakura, almost all he had, and the effect of losing him was likely greater than it was to Sakura.
She'd go check on him, see how he was doing and maybe talk to Tsunade later.
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Surprises and bad news were things that Tsunade had learned to alter her lifestyle around. Happiness for her was a privilege, earned through trial and error, easily shifted and easily taken away. For her, happiness used to be personal, best kept to the recess of her mind, of fear that if the world knew she was happy, she'd be denied the privilege all over again.
Orochimaru, Dan, and Nawakai were all victims of her happiness, she practically showered them with it, and slowly, they completely faded. Orochimaru just wasn't gone yet, but he was fading.
However, since becoming the Hokage, Tsunade learned her happiness was best left to the good people of her village, for her happiness was their reassurance. Like the Will of Fire, she insured it into every civilian and ninja alike. Just as her happiness mattered to them, theirs mattered ten fold to her.
With that being said, Naruto spilling his guts out to Tsunade, recounting the mission, the meeting with Iruka, and the argument with Sakura in a matter of moments had not only unsettled, but zapped her happiness down to an all time low.
Sasuke Uchiha was an idiot, and Naruto even more so to jump to conclusions without coming to her first. Yamato and Kakashi were just as ignorant as Naruto as well, allowing him to make such a scene in public.
She kept her anger contained though, and instead focussed on the situation at hand, the possibility that Iruka was dead, and the mere fact that Naruto knew that he had a son and wanted to know more. Her eyes had already betrayed her the instant the blond ninja had spoken his accusations, he could see the shift in Tsunade's eyes.
Now was time to act.
"Naruto," she spoke sternly in order to penetrate his babbling, at the same time, she searched for the right words to say.
HIs head turned towards her, his eyes ablaze. He had every right to know, but he needed to understand Iruka's position too, Sakura's side too.
But words wouldn't reach the boy now, Tsunade could see that he was doing everything he could not to spill over, not to lash out. Self Control wasn't something Naruto usually practiced, the effort impressed her.
"Yamato, Kakashi, leave."
If they wanted to stay, had any protest, Tsunade assumed they did so in their momentary pause and anxious glances cast towards each other, nevertheless, they left quickly, closing the door behind them.
"Would you like to see him?" Tsunade inclined, "if so, would you allow me to explain things to you? Explain what and why it happened?"
Naruto paused, obviously taken aback by the question thrown at him so suddenly. Gulping, Naruto's eyes softened at the thought of the life that was taken from him, cringing slightly at the gruesome memories Sasuke had unlocked.
The circumstances of his son's conception may be impure, so Naruto wanted to see him before Tsunade spilled the beans.
"..Sure," blandly, it rolled off of his tongue, too many thoughts colliding in his mind at once. He didn't know what emotion to display, how exactly to feel. He supposed that would be determined at the exact moment he met the boy.
"Follow me," Tsunade said silently.
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Sakura had assumed that after Sasori's poison nearly killed Kankuro and she was the one chosen to heal him, that she would have gained a stronger sense of self confidence when it came to healing the near dead.
Different battles, attacks on the village had confirmed this, at least she thought, faceless ninja and citizens had come to her for help, many near death and barely clinging to life, and always she'd been able to heal them, to save them.
But why now, when her hands hovered over her Sensei's bloody stomach, her body shook like a child caught in a blizzard.
Iruka was pale, very pale, his normal tan color melting away.
Already, the stomach acid had begun to corrode the sensitive tissues that made up the main organs. The wound on his chest had been somewhat healed, only enough for her to direct her attention to the stomach wound though, no way were either of them fully healed. The stomach was the one she was most concerned about though, it was killing Iruka slowly and painfully.
Sai lay amongst rubble in the kitchen, Sakura assumed, at least that's where she'd last seen him after she punched him at the "crime scene", now all of her attention was dedicated to her former Sensei, trying to keep him alive until her clone made it to the hospital where more medics could be found, and to the Hokage Tower, to alert Tsunade about the current situation.
She didn't want to lose him, not Iruka Sensei, but the feeling of despair and defeat were at their highest.
Already his eyes were foggy, his mouth slightly agape as a steady stream of blood seeped through. The floor was a bloody mess, Sakura's knees were submerged in it, and already she'd ripped his shirt in order to get a better look at the wound.
It was a nasty wound, nasty wound. Two areas had been punctured, and the skin was red and irritated around them, she was doing her best to fix his stomach, but she'd need medical assistance, medicines and equipment to continue. She could only stabilize him now, and she hoped that help was on the way.
She felt she was losing him, that no matter how hard she tried, no matter how much chakra she poured into his battered body, that her Sensei wouldn't make it.
It scared her, but nevertheless, she continued to push chakra into the wound.
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They'd traveled several flights of stairs below the Tower. The walk was quiet and Tsunade only spoke when they walked into hidden room. Secret village records, as Naruto had gathered, were stored inside of of many cabinets and files within the room, many locked with a strong chakra seal. It wasn't a big room, as large as Tsunade's office, the cabinets were stacked on the wall, a large table in the center and a dangling light overhead. There were no windows.
Tsunade grabbed walked towards the cabinet furthest of the door and fumbled through it, Naruto stayed by the door as she did so.
She was muttering as she fiddled through it, satisfied only when she pulled a small scroll out of the cabinet, read it, and placed it back inside. Though, her demeanor changed slightly, from tense to worried, however, she returned to tense second later.
Whatever she'd been looking at clearly wasn't meant for Naruto, but he had no doubt it had something to do with the situation.
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By the time Naruto and Tsunade had left the room and returned to Tsunade's office, the staff was in a frenzy. Apparently a ninja, an important ninja had been seriously injured by a higher ranked nina, at least that's what Naruto had gathered from a bumbling Shizune, medics and ninja were running around like cockroaches trying to find Tsunade and steal her away into the infirmary.
It was pure chaos, treason had been committed, and apparently the elders were doing nothing about it. The medical staff had already reported it to the council, a young medic with blood staining his hands had hastily told Tsunade.
He'd left, however not without casting a sympathetic look at Naruto.
Sakura had been the biggest surprise, and angrily, she shoved Naruto as she ran through the doorway, yelling for him to stay out of the way. She'd pulled Tsunade behind her desk and towards the window, muttering something important to her. Naruto guessed that by the hisses and the tone of her whispering that it was very important, yet he did a good job at glaring at her when she walked by, and she did the same. She disappeared soon after, leaving Naruto to Tsunade, who rested her hand on her desk, her back towards Naruto.
The tension was thick, hanging in the air like humidity.
Her shoulders suddenly sagged, and she breathed an exaggerated sigh.
"Tsunad_" Tsunade held up a hand and silenced him, obviously wanting him to take no place in the newly arisen problem.
"Naruto, I can only take you there, not back. I have important matters to attend to. Don't spend too much time there either, it's better that you don't even interact, "She turned around, her eyes intently staring into his, "it will only cause problems if you do. Let's be quick now, hurry and follow me."
Standing by the door, Naruto jumped as she walked beside him with deadly speed, her heels clicking as she walked down the long corridors of the Hokage tower. With a sigh, Naruto followed quickly after her, a frenzy of ninja still running in the corridor.
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School started, and by far, Junior year is the hardest year ever, and I have like three new teachers, that always makes me nervous. Currently, i'm so fed up with the manga, the plot and the writing is terrible, things aren't making sense, ugh...i'm babbling again. Also, i saw Rise of the Guardians, I loved it :D Maybe i'll start writing for that. Anyway, sorry for such a late update, how long has it been anyway? I just had a lot on my plate, i'll try to update soon, but no promises. Naruto will see his son in the next chapter, and things will start to wrap up. Anyways, I don't own Naruto, never will. Tell me what you think, be honest :D Have a nice week and God bless.