Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Realizations
For the rest of the week I spent my time attending the makeshift academy and searching through the leftovers of Naruto's apartment. Sometimes Akio joins me, but now that his ankle is fully healed he sometimes chooses to follow around his father and help with the village repairs instead.
After that first day that Akio and I spent searching for stuff that can be salvaged allies and people who are indebted to the village started to arrive with tools and material to rebuild Konoha. Slowly things are starting to look not so destroyed. A few buildings have been built. All they need now are to be painted and to have occupants. Naruto's favorite ramen stand has even started to be resurrected. I have not seen much of Naruto. He leaves our tent before I wake up and he comes back when I am already asleep. So I have not really gotten a chance to properly apologize to him yet for making him chase me without his shoes on. But I do not really want to apologize until I find something of his to return to him. I own him a lot, so finding a keepsake of his is the least I can do.
Right now I am knees deep in rubble, praying that today will be the day that I will find something special, and I will finally be able to apologize to Naruto, and have that apology actually be worth something. It is no lie that the guilt of my actions has been bothering me since that morning after the attack. I feel like a good for nothing traitor for running away and not dying with my family. And I regret running away from Naruto when he was just looking out for me. Sighing, I pull my hands out of the debris and run them through my hair, no doubt making it dirty. I cannot apologize to mother, brother, and father, but I can make it up to Naruto. I have to make it up to Naruto. He is my family now. I cannot keep dreaming of the past.
I put my hands back to work, sorting through all of the ruin. It is amazing what can happen in a short amount of time. All of Konoha got destroyed in a matter of seconds. And the repairs, while slower the destruction, is going faster than I imagined. Then today, at the academy Akio had told me of another big change. This change is about the Hokage, but not Tsunade. She is still in a coma, and there has been no news about her waking up anytime soon. Apparently Tsunade is no longer the Hokage. Akio had overheard his father and mother talking with another jonin outside their tent and he heard that some man named Danzo had been named the sixth Hokage. I have never heard of this man before and neither had Akio. But he said that neither of his parents seemed too thrilled with this man being in power. And the news of the new Hokage does not seem to be common knowledge as I have not heard any civilians talking about it. How long until everyone knows about the new Hokage? What will it mean for the village? My left hand comes into contact with a smooth object. I pull it out and hold it up in the light. It is round with a metallic feel but is slightly dented and completely covered in dirt and dust. Using the bottom of my shirt I start to rub it clean. After Akio had found some of my clothes I had happily returned his as soon as mine were clean. With my own clothes on my back I feel a lot more comfortable, because now people, namely Akio, are not laughing at me. I wipe away enough dirt to make out a clock face with a crack right down its middle. This must be Naruto's alarm clock. So I must be standing in what used to be his bedroom. My spirits rise a little. There has to be something that is important to Naruto here. I put the clock down on my left and start digging with more energy. There has to be something here that will make him happy; something that will make my apology strong.
However, not long after the hair on the back of my neck stands up and I start to get goose bumps on my arms. My muscles tense as I quickly look over my right shoulder only to see tents and piles of debris. I could have sworn that someone was staring at me. Hesitantly, I turn back around and continue my search, but my muscles stay tense. I have been getting this sensation since two days ago that someone is watching me, but only when I am alone. And whenever I turn around or look in the direction where I think their eyes are I see no one and I hear no one. I must be going crazy. I think to myself as I shake my head, trying to rid myself of the feeling. Pushing a midsized piece of debris out of my way I take a deep breath. I am just imagining it. Who would spy on me? The only thing special about me is that I do not have a last name and Naruto, the courageous hero of the village, calls me his little sister. There is no one there. I have been feeling like this for two days. If someone was watching me they would have done something by now. I reassure myself just as my left pinkie finger swipes against something sharp. Wincing I pull back quickly and survey the damage. There is a thin line of blood tinkling down from the side of my pinkie. Without thinking I stick in in my mouth to get rid of the blood. What did I find? I asked myself as I still feel the sensation of someone's eyes on me. Ignoring my instinct to run and find someone's company I reach down with my right hand and carefully clear the area where my left hand had been. Maybe it is one of Naruto's weapons. I move aside a piece of debris the size of my hand before I see it. I cut my hand on broken glass; glass that used to be a part of a picture frame. I pull my pinkie out of my mouth before gingerly picking up each individual piece of glass and setting it aside. After a minute or two of removing glass I reach the prize. Carefully, so it will not tear, I slip out the picture that was under all of the glass. It is in good condition. Little to no dirt is on the picture, probably due to the protection of the frame before the glass shattered. Studying it, I realize that it is the picture that Naruto kept on his nightstand; the one with his sensei, and Sakura, and his other mysterious team mate, Sasuke back when they first started out as genin. In the picture Sakura is standing in front of Kakashi, and in between Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura and Kakashi are the only ones smiling. Or at least I think Kakashi is smiling. Who can tell with that mask of his? Sasuke has a scowl on his face and it kind of looks like Naruto is growling at him. This is it! I bet this is very important to Naruto.
I smile to myself. Now I just have to find Naruto. Hopefully he is not too busy so I will not be interrupting him. I think as I study the picture further. For the couple of seconds I spend thinking about the picture I get distracted and forget about the feeling of someone spying on me as I stare at Sasuke's face. Whenever I see this picture I cannot help but draw comparisons between him and my father. It is the same hair color, same eyes, and same lack of a happy expression. My father had darker skin than the boy in Naruto's photo, but still a lot of similarities. However, not as much similarities between the Sasuke in the photo and the scary man with the red eyes that father had dubbed a traitor. That thought lingers for a moment, with the word traitor echoing in my head before realizations hits me and I freeze, forgetting about the picture in my hand. Traitor. My father had called that man a traitor. And that man had called my father by his name.
The wind picks up and it blows my hair all over my face and I have to hold on to Naruto's picture tighter. But it does not take me away from my thoughts. Why did I not realize this before? If father called that man a traitor and that man had called father by his name they must have known each other. But why would father call that man a traitor?
I stand up, with the picture still in my hand and look over my shoulder again, still feeling eyes on me. I should go find Naruto, and hopefully this feeling will go away. Watching were I step I climb out of the debris and start thinking about traitors as I let my feet decide where I will go, hoping that I will just run into Naruto as I do not know where he is.
Who would father consider to be a traitor? I asked myself as I carefully put Naruto's photo in my pocket, hoping that it would not get a crease. It could not just be a missing nin of Konoha like the academy definition of a traitor is, because technically father was a missing nin too. So it would have been hypocritical of him to call other missing nins traitors.
Thinking really hard I recall way back to the time where I had just mastered the katon jutsu and father had sat me down and told me that story; the story where he had named himself a coward. Father had said that he a fled Konoha after he saw a fellow clansman killing his clan. A shiver runs down my spine and I falter as I reach a more active part of the village as civilians are milling about and the buzz of activity swarms my ears, and even though I am no longer alone I still feel like someone is watching me. I wrap my arms around myself and keep on walking. Did that scary man with red eyes, like father's eyes, kill father's clan? If that is true then father and that scary man were related. Which means that I am related to that scary man. I take a deep breath as I make a random turn in the opposite direction of where Naruto's and my tent is.
Feeling like I am thinking at the speed of light I start remembering the ghost district. If the scary man is related to father and did kill his clan; our clan, then the ghost district was were the slaughter took place. And that fan symbol really is the symbol of father's clan; our clan.
Through I am not paying attention I somehow end up in another unpopulated part of the reconstructing village. My stomach keeps on turning as uneasiness spreads throughout my whole body. However, I do not know if it is because of my thoughts or of the sense that I am not as alone as I appear to be. With my feet carelessly moving forward I start to think about the red eye. The kekkei genkai that's name starts with "Sha". My father had it. That scary man has it, and Kakashi has it, although Kakashi is somehow not related to the clan. And then there is that boy, Sasuke, in Naruto's picture who bears a strong resemblance to both my father and the scary man with the red eyes. Since he looks so similar and no one seems to want to talk about him around me I think he has to somehow be a part of this giant riddle. So is he also a part of the clan? From the little information that Naruto has told all I know is that Sasuke left the village and Naruto is very serious about bringing him home. So that means he is not dead. He was not killed with father's clan. But father always made it seem like he was the only survivor of his clan. So maybe Sasuke is not a part of this riddle. But then why does he look so much like my father and that scary man? Is it possible that my father was not the only one to survive? My father, that scary man, the fan symbol, the red eye, and Sasuke; how are they all related?
I stop walking and stare at my feet. I feel like I should go back to the ghost district and start searching for more clues, but just like the rest of the village the ghost district would have been destroyed, along with father's old house. My shoulders shake as I take in a ragged breath. Why is this so hard? The air seems to have stilled but I hardly notice it as I am too busy swimming around in my thoughts. The fan symbol, the red eye, father, the scary man, Sasuke, and me; how are we all connected? Sighing out in frustration I shake my head. I should just find Naruto and tell him what I know. Maybe with my new realizations I can make him slip up and say something that he is not supposed to. With a new resolve I look up only to be meant with the sight of a maroon clothed cover chest. My eyes widen. How long has someone been standing in front of me? Hurriedly I snap my eyes up to the person's face to apologize. The person in front of me is a red headed man with long hair pulled back in to a pony tail, and long bangs that frame his face. He is staring down at me with a blank expression and a dull look in his eyes. I open my mouth to say I am sorry for running into him even though I am sure that there was no one in front of when I stopped walking so running into each other must be his fault. However, before I can get a sound out the man lashes out with his right arm so fast that his arm looks like a blur. I blink once before a blinding pain erupts from the back of my neck and I start to see spots. Did he hit me? My knees start to tremble before they buckle under my weight. Why? I asked myself as the man prevents me from falling to the ground and my vision darkens completely. I should be panicking but I feel like I am just going to sleep despite the numbing pain on the back of my neck. I cannot go to sleep. I have to find Naruto. I think as I feel the man lift me up as my eyes close and my world turns into darkness.