Chapter 40: Naruto's Promise! I'll Get Stronger No Matter What!

"Hey."

I swung around to face the voice that had shattered through my thoughts and found sensei beside me. She was giving me a small, kind smile but I knew that there was nothing to smile about.

"How's Naruto?" I asked.

Megumi-sensei looked out at the scene surrounding us. I had been holed up in the apartment we had rented and had been up on the roof for the whole morning, watching the birds fly by while listening to the bustling streets below. I had been alone with my thoughts which was the last thing I had wanted but being surrounded by everyone else especially after they had sent a squad out after Sasuke was the last thing I wanted.

"He's hurt pretty bad." Sensei said and folded her arms across her chest. "But the Nine-Tails heals quickly. He'll be fine in a few days, probably up and moving around in a few hours."

"And the others?" I asked. If I remembered correctly the squad had consisted of Kiba and Akamaru, Shikamaru, Neji, Naruto and Choji. I had been sure that Sasuke hadn't gone off alone and had learned from Sakura a few days after the boys had left that the Sound Four had been with him.

"A little worse for wear too but nobody got it as bad as Naruto. Lee and the Sand Genin arrived just in time to save them but Kakashi was too late for Naruto."

I nodded and averted my eyes. I had suspected as much as well. "Who did Naruto…how did he get so hurt?"

"He fought Sasuke." Megumi-sensei said and I looked up at her, my eyes a little wide.

"Oh."

Sensei nodded and took a deep breath. "But they'll be fine…as for Sasuke…to hurt Naruto that way, his own comrade."

I looked away. "There's a word for that."

"Scum." Megumi-sensei said. "Those who brush aside their comrades are nothing more and nothing less than scum, at least that's what Kakashi called it."

"He's a rogue ninja now." I swallowed.

"Yes."

"Are they going to go after him again?" I asked.

Sensei shrugged. "I'm sure they'll never stop looking but…for now…there's too much going on to focus on Sasuke."

I nodded slowly, telling myself I understood but at the same time knowing deep down inside that I didn't. I hugged my knees to my chest.

"Do you think he'll ever come back?" I asked suddenly.

Sensei didn't answer right away and when I glanced up at her, I saw that she was wearing her usual impassive expression, her eyes distant. She was thinking about her answer, turning it over carefully in her mind.

"I don't know."

"Do you think he's sorry?"

"Do you?" She challenged and I pressed my lips together.

"I don't know."

Silence passed between us for a few breezes. Megumi-sensei shifted in her seat beside me and then leaned back, her hands planting firmly on the cement roof as she tilted her head back toward the sun.

"He's not White Fang." Megumi-sensei sighed.

"What?" I asked.

"Kakashi…he's not called White Fang."

"Wha-what are you? What?" I looked back at her.

"The Leaf and our village weren't supposed to me alliances in anything. Akane saved a lot of her money to hire the Leaf to protect us back then, to protect me." She closed her eyes. "We didn't get along at first and we met each other when we were around your age, maybe a little younger."

"But he didn't earn that name when he was a kid, he earned when he was in ANBU and when he saved not just me but the entire village from burning to the ground. It was the kidnapping that turned out to be an ambush and throughout it all right up until the last few hours spent between us, I was a miserable little brat to him. I thought that we were going to die back then, on that day for sure. I don't think I've ever been more scared in my entire life of death."

"Sensei…" I said and her eyes opened. She glanced down at me.

"But he told me to suck it up. He told me that he wouldn't let me die. He wouldn't let me die the same way everyone else had."

"And we survived and his last words to me were: 'See? We made it. Now don't go off being impossible'." She laughed lightly. "Our villagers were simple then and as he left, they asked him what they could call him, girls swooning over this hero of mine. He looked at all of them, this man who was beaten up from the journey, whose muscles ached from having to carry me all of the way back, who looked about ready to drop. He looked at all of them and smiled and he told us to call him White Fang."

"But that wasn't his name?" I asked.

"No." Sensei said. "That was his father's nickname."

"Why did he take it?"

"Our version of Kakashi's White Fang persona, over time has become a legend to everyone. No one knows what he looks like, just the elders and even their memories are foggy. No one can know what he did, just a select few and our ties to the Leaf must remain invisible. They destroyed a powerful threat for us, for this entire world, and all he has to remember it by is that nickname. It was a homage to his late father and the only one who knew the truth was me."

"What happened to his father?"

"Suicide." Sensei said. "He was a good man."

"Did you meet him?"

"No…he died when Kakashi was young."

"But he told you about him?"

"Of course."

"But what happened after that? What happened after that mission after he saved the village?"

"We didn't see each other until that time on Tazuna's bridge." Sensei explained.

"But he thought you were dead."

"Like I said I was a brat. That's not a secret in our village, it's just a fact." She said with a shrug. "Even though I showed him reason to believe that one day I wouldn't be, it wasn't enough. I had changed, he…he had changed me but he wasn't a miracle worker."

"He thought I would get myself in trouble again and in a lot of ways I did but I never forgot him, never forgot what he told me and I never forgot all he had done for me."

I nodded. "So now you're back in each other's lives."

"And we're not letting each other go."

I smiled. "So you don't really hate each other?"

She laughed lightly and smoothed a hand through her hair. "I could never hate him." She looked down at me before reaching over and pulling me against her. She turned her head to the side, resting the side of her face on the top of my head and I closed my eyes, relaxing into her embrace.

"You'll be fine, kid." Sensei said after a few moments. "I know it hurts…I know what that feels like. It took me a while to realize my feelings, took me a while to mull over words long exchanged. It sucked, the pain, the memories, the mistakes and everything feels like a mistake. But you'll be fine and that's the only thing that matters. You can't control Sasuke but you can wish the best for him and you can hope that when your paths meet again, he'll know the same."

"And he'll come back." I said.

"Yes." Sensei said. "And he'll come back."

"Miyuki!" Naruto ran up to me, his hands gripping his backpack.

A few months had come and gone between the Sasuke rescue mission and a few missions had come and gone just as quickly. Sensei was still looking after Kakashi sensei and we had arrived in Konoha just a few days before I heard from Sakura that Naruto was leaving for two years to train with Jiraiya.

"Naruto!" I smiled, turning to face him.

"What are you doing here? Here to see me off?" Naruto grinned.

I smiled at him. He really had recovered and from what I heard of his latest mission, he had been a real star. It had been a joint mission with the Sand and while Gaara was rumored to be the biggest star, Naruto was of course the drive behind it.

"I heard you were leaving." I smiled. "Going off to get stronger?"

"Yup!" Naruto said. "Pervy Sage is finally starting to treat me seriously."

I smiled. "That's good."

"How have you been, anyway? What are you doing here? Are Kyoske and Hideki here too?"

I shook my head. "I'm with sensei. She just came to visit Kakashi."

Naruto nodded and then scratched the back of his head. "We never found out what was wrong with those two."

"Yeah, I guess we didn't." I laughed. "But Naruto, how long are you going to be gone?"

"Two years." Naruto grinned.

I nodded. "Sounds good. Make sure you take care of yourself, okay?"

He nodded. "Of course."

"And Jiraiya too." I said.

"Sure will."

"Oh Miyuki." Jiraiya greeted. He was standing beside Naruto, smiling down at me. I hadn't seen him much since our sit down a few months ago and while his words still haunted me, I knew that he had cleared a lot of things up for me. I smiled up at him.

"She says I have to take care of you, old man."

Jiraiya chuckled. "If you can manage to take care of yourself that'll be a feat."

"Oh hey Miyuki." Naruto said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

He extended a fist and I stared down at it, confused.

"I'm gonna bring him home." Naruto said. "Believe it."

I blinked at him and as much as a part of me wanted to burst into tears right then and there, I sniffed and extended a fist. We fist bumped but I quickly realized that it wasn't enough. I hugged him right after, and the force of it made him stumble slightly but he caught himself.

"I believe it." I smiled. "Now go out there and do your best."

I pulled away a moment later only to find Naruto grinning.

"Will do, Miyuki! You take care of yourself too, you heard?"

"Let's get going, kid." Jiraiya said and started moving out of the village gates.

Naruto nodded and smiled at me.

"I will." I said and shot him a smile before he turned and walked off after Jiraiya. I stared after them, waiting until they dipped down the hill in the distance, until it blended in with the blazing sun shining above, casting a shiny glow onto the Hokage faces and I couldn't make out Naruto's jumpsuit anymore.

"Is he gone?"

I looked and saw Sakura jogging to my side.

"Sakura, hey. You just missed him."

Sakura nodded and I noted the disappointment in her face. "I was fighting with Ino and lost track of time."

"It's alright. I'm sure he knows you're wishing him well."

Sakura nodded.

"I heard you're training under Tsunade now?" I asked.

"Yeah." Sakura said with a nod. "She told me that she's gonna turn up my own training because Jiraiya and her made a bet over which student will do better or something like that."

I laughed, remembering Tsunade and her gambling habits. She would make a bet like that.

"Either way, I have to get stronger." Sakura said. "I can't have them leaving me behind anymore, you know?"

I looked at her and nodded.

"I'm gonna get stronger just like Naruto." Sakura smiled.

"He said he's going to bring Sasuke back." I said.

Sakura hesitated before she nodded. "And he will. I know he will."

I nodded myself and together we looked out at the world beyond the gates, our hands balled into tight fists, hers at her sides, and mine behind my back.

Two years. If everyone else was going to get stronger, kicking up my own training seemed to be the next best thing. I had been slacking and now it was time to kick it into high gear. After all, I wasn't going to let Naruto and Sakura bring Sasuke back alone. They were going to need all the help they could get if they were gonna go up against Orochimaru and I planned on being right beside them when they did.