Chapter 6:

Sasuke's life had crumbled in an instant; he had lost his family... lost everything. It was his brother, Itachi Uchiha, the person he admired the most, who had done it. Sasuke gazed at the lake in front of him, sitting on the edge of the pier. It was hard being here because he had so many memories of trying to impress his father and spending time with his older brother.

He sniffed and tried to hold back tears as best as he could. He needed to focus on his revenge... on killing the one responsible. But that didn't stop the tears from eventually falling, sliding down his face until he wiped them away with the sleeves of his black shirt.

When he heard footsteps, he widened his eyes and lowered his head, hoping that the person there hadn't seen him. "Go away," Sasuke said, his voice trembling, but the steps didn't stop. "I said, go away!" His voice trembled even more, and the footsteps only halted when they were two steps away from Sasuke.

He turned, looking at the person who had come, only to meet blue eyes and bright orange clothing. "...You... Sasuke." Naruto turned his head slightly, and Sasuke realized he was still crying. He looked back at the lake.

"...Go away... Naruto." He had called him by her name! Whenever they fought, shouted, or insulted each other, Sasuke and Naruto used those things. Naruto had a sad expression toward Sasuke, but... it wasn't pity or sympathy; it was like he understood. But "there's no way you can understand how I feel."

"...I do know... what it's like... to be..." Naruto fell silent and sat down, turning her back to Sasuke and leaning against his back. Sasuke understood what Naruto wanted to say... to understand what it's like to be alone. And he had clearly seen that.

There was a time before entering the academy when the children began to talk more to Naruto, mostly the older ones, around twelve or eleven years old. They were in that stage where they cared little about others' opinions and defied their parents' warnings without fear or hatred towards Naruto. There was just one problem: those children's parents did care. For Naruto, that didn't matter so much; she was going through a relatively happy phase in her life. She didn't mind receiving cold glances if it meant the older kids let her play or watch them train.

Tortoise said he had something to do that night and informed the Hokage that he wouldn't be able to watch over Naruto that night due to matters in his clan. However, Hiruzen was confident that Naruto would be fine that night. It was only February, far from that catastrophic day. He was busy and had matters to attend to. If the Hokage had given the order for an ANBU to watch over Naruto, maybe none of that would have happened.

Then there was a dull thud that made her jump out of bed. It was at the door, or at least that's what she thought in her drowsy mind, before feeling her hair being grabbed. She screamed as the person lifted her like a ragdoll - "Who do you think you are to mess with our kids?" She could see the dark eyes of her attacker and people behind him.

"I-I haven't d-done anything wrong, h-have I?" When the man wrinkled his nose and furrowed his brow at her.

"You put on that small appearance to deceive, but we won't fall for it." It was at that moment that Naruto was slammed against the cold wood of her apartment. Her head hit first, and she let out a whimper as she tried to get up and run, supporting herself on her arms. But before she could react, something pressed her down against the floor. She was supposed to be strong now, having had training. Why couldn't she fight back? Why did she return the blow instead of running? Maybe it was force of habit that made her allow her face to hit the ground again, feeling her nose bleeding. Fear surged through her veins like lava, but nothing was exploding yet. Was she not strong enough yet? Maybe she was still in shock and too drowsy to react properly.

"Don't mess with my son again."

"She's probably trying to enchant them, isn't she? Probably learned it from her whore of a mother." She heard someone mock while the man who had thrown her on the ground grabbed her arm and lifted her up. Naruto felt like her shoulder was about to crack at any moment.

"A slut." Naruto wanted to scream, maybe for help or to tell those men that her mother wasn't any of those words she barely understood the meaning of. But as much as she wanted to deny it, she couldn't. In her opinion, she hadn't known her parents and knew nothing about them. That claim could be true, but she didn't want to think about it, as she wouldn't want to believe it.

"What about her father?"

"Who knows if this thing even has parents?"

At that moment, Naruto jerked again and tried to kick the man, but all she got was a punch in her stomach, and she ended up on the ground. She had fought with Sasuke many times, but the Uchiha boy would never use his strength to permanently harm her. He usually just wanted to knock her down.

She heard noises around her house when everything stopped spinning, and she heard her furniture being destroyed. "H-Help... p-please." Naruto tried, but her voice barely came out.

The man didn't let her see the "new decoration" they were making in her apartment. She was taken out, and a rope was tied tightly around her mouth.

Naruto struggled to break free; her arm and shoulder hurt, her chest burned from the words, and her stomach hurt from the punch. Her clothes were stained with blood from her dripping nose.

Naruto was used like a piñata tied to a tree near the river. When she thought they would finally stop, she was too weak to truly feel scared. That's why she let herself be dragged again when she was put into a box where she barely fit. She was forced to tuck her knees against her chest and lower her head. The box closed, and Naruto could still feel the splinters from the stick on her body as something oily was poured over her, then the box was closed again.

"I don't know how she'll survive this."

"If she does, we'll be heroes for exposing her as a demon. If she doesn't, we'll still be heroes." The other person let out a raspy laugh.

Then Naruto understood. They were going to burn her. She knew the pain of burns; they had put out cigarettes on her arms or neck several times, and it hurt like hell. "P-Please, d-don't do this!" She yelled and kicked the box's door, only

to realize it was completely sealed. Her breathing was ragged, and the sounds she heard were her heart pounding and the people laughing in the background. "No!" Naruto shouted. She wished all these people would disappear, that they would all stop and leave her alone. Then something happened that Naruto didn't think would ever happen: silence. There were no footsteps, no laughter. It was all silent. The box became her greatest torment. She wanted to get out; she felt like she was suffocating. She resisted the urge to close her eyes for a few moments, but a mysterious force overcame her, and she closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she wasn't in the box anymore but in the hospital. It took her days to figure out what had happened. Apparently, the people disappeared overnight, and their bodies were found in the Forbidden Forest. No one knows why or how they ended up there.

Naruto knows, though. She did it. Naruto wished the bad people would disappear. It was her fault that those kind older children lost a father.

Since that day, Naruto developed a fear of small, confined spaces, and especially of other children. For a while, she even stopped hanging out with her classmates, until the Hokage told her that it was Shikaku who had saved her and Chōza who gave her money to replace her things. She didn't hang out with the older kids either, and it's not like they wanted to hang out with her again.

Kiba wanted to be friends with Naruto now. Before, he didn't... and that's the only thing he's willing to explain. At first, Kiba thought "joyfully" that Naruto was afraid of him, and maybe it was true. However, over time, that fact stopped being joyful, especially because Naruto didn't trust Kiba.

Even though Naruto smiled and fought with him, Kiba used to think Naruto had a short fuse like him, but then he realized Naruto was actually pretending. It was Kiba's fault that fact stopped being true, and for the first time, he felt regret for everything he had said and done.

That's why Kiba stopped trying to be an "alpha" in front of Naruto and started being gentler, hoping that someday his friend could trust him.

Thanks for read!