Responsibility of The Strong

Doubts and Warnings

"Iruka-sensei…" Naruto growled out with a scowl on his face as he looked at the student across from him in the sparring circle.

-Flashback-

"Naruto…I am…really proud of how strong you are becoming." Iruka said in a hesitant manner.

Naruto looked at him suspiciously. This was the first day of training with Iruka on the weekend after Sekibayashi had left to participate in some matches. Iruka had been acting strange throughout the week after meeting with Sekibayashi and agreeing to train Naruto. He had been paying extra attention to Naruto and had gotten involved in the training activities that Mizuki had normally handled alone.

For some reason Mizuki had seemed really put off by the whole thing. Naruto couldn't really blame him though; Naruto would have been annoyed too if all the sudden one of his classmates interrupted him and started taking over his work. Oh well it wasn't his business.

"Thanks…?" Naruto cocked an eyebrow.

"That being said…It's good to be strong…and tough! But the way you are fighting." Iruka paused for a moment, he had been practicing what he wanted to say to Naruto about this for a few days now, but for some reason he was hesitating in front of Naruto. "It's wrong Naruto. It's really wrong for a ninja."

Naruto's glare was fierce. Of course Iruka was going do this. Right when Naruto finally gets someone to pay attention to him and help him, now there is a problem. He knew that Iruka cared about him, especially compared to others in the village, but he never took the time to do the things Sekibayashi had done for him.

"What's so wrong about it!" Naruto shouted, his frustration coming out.

"Naruto, please. I am not trying to upset you." Iruka raised his hands in a placating gesture, he wanted Naruto to calm down and to listen to him carefully. "That style of fighting is not meant for ninjas. You can't just say it's your responsibility to take every hit and fight like that. This isn't wresting! This is life and death!"

"I don't care!" Naruto shouted. He wasn't going to let Iruka take this away from him. Not the feeling of recognition he was finally getting from them. "I am tough enough."

"Being tough is going to save you from being burned to death by a fire jutsu!" Iruka slowly walked towards Naruto. "It won't save you from a wind blade slicing your body apart, a katana stabbing into you, or a poison gas from destroying your insides.

Naruto gulped as Iruka kept listing the ways that he could be killed one by one. Iruka put both of his hands on Naruto shoulders and looked him directly in the eyes. The serious look on Iruka's face kept Naruto from pulling back or lashing out.

"Naruto I am telling you this because I want to help you." Iruka said never breaking his gaze. "I don't want you to die. We are shinobi, we deal with deadly situations. If you try to take every blow and don't dodge at all…you are going to die your first time outside the village."

Naruto gazed down at his feet. Tears pricked his eyes. Of course, he didn't want to die, but if that meant giving up…he wasn't sure he could do that. Not now, not after these past three months. Not after Sekibayashi and the others. Not after finally feeling like he belonged somewhere.

"I won't give up." Naruto said through grit teeth.

"I'm not asking you to not be a ninja Naruto." Iruka said softly. "I will help you with that."

"You don't understand." Naruto muttered.

"What don't I understand?" Iruka asked.

"If I go back to how I was before, nothing will ever change."

"If you keep this up you may never make it to your dream." Iruka took a pleading tone.

"He saved me." Naruto spat. "If it wasn't for them my dream would already be over."

"That doesn't mean that you have to copy him Naruto." Iruka said. "I admit that his training has really helped you, and you have gotten a lot better at the academy, but his style of fighting is all wrong."

"I promised Iruka-sensei." Naruto was determined. "I can't take a step back or nothing will ever get better."

"Naruto…" Iruka's words died in his throat the tears in the corners of Naruto's eyes. "I am trying to look out for you."

"I know." Naruto sniffled. "But these few months have felt like the best ones of my life, and I won't go back…Now are you going to teach me or not?"

Iruka stared at Naruto for a moment before he shook his head somberly. "Yeah. I will teach you. But this discussion isn't over."

-Flashback End-

Ever since that day Iruka had been different in class. He paid more attention to Naruto, making him answer more questions, assist in demonstrations, reviewing his taijutsu forms and forcing him into uncomfortable situations. Naruto was treating it like a challenge and meeting it head on with an unwavering attitude.

There was only one problem.

Sparring.

Standing across from Naruto was a nervous looking civilian born student named Arata that was at the bottom of the class ranking in sparing and combat. The boy wasn't even a challenge for Naruto before he started training with Sekibayashi, but now it was a joke.

Ever since the conversation between himself and Iruka, he had only been paired against the worst students in his class. Naruto didn't think anything of it at first, just assuming that it was a random selection, but after two weeks of the same rotation of poor opponents, Naruto had caught on. The message was clear from Iruka.

Change how you fight, or these are the opponents you will get.

Naruto complained, loudly, about his opponents once he figured out what was going on. This wasn't benefiting him in any way and Iruka knew it. Not only did they not serve as good practice, but Naruto's reputation wasn't growing at all because of it. Students actually stopped paying attention to him and his fights because they knew he was going to win.

Naruto needed to change the narrative to something more favorable to him, but he wasn't sure the best way to do it. He had hoped that his extra sessions with Iruka would get him to let off a little bit as he saw Naruto improve, but that wasn't working. The only thing that Naruto could think of doing was falling back on a lesson Sekibayashi had taught him during his training.

'Master said that the crowd was just as important as the fighters and that getting the crowd on your side was part of your responsibility.' Naruto thought.

"Sensei!" Naruto shouted and Iruka just rolled his eyes.

"No Naruto. Arata is your opponent today." Iruka said.

"But Iruka-sensei." Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. "I promise I can hold back!"

Iruka cocked an eyebrow at him. 'Am I finally getting through to him.'

"Really! I promise I won't hurt Sasuke too bad!"

Iruka immediately deadpanned. 'Nope. Not at all.'

The crowd around them laughed as Sasuke just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah right idiot!" Sakura yelled. "You stand no chance against Sasuke-kun.

Naruto had a pinky in his ear trying to clean it out, looking completely bored at everyone's laughter and comments. "How do you know?"

"Sasuke has always beat you!"

"Sasuke is the best in the class!"

"Yeah…he beat me that's true." Naruto rubbed his chin and squinted with a thoughtful look on his face. "Last year."

Iruka sent a small glare towards Naruto. He could tell Naruto was trying to get everyone riled up and make Iruka change his opponent.

"We haven't fought each other yet. And I haven't lost to anyone yet." Naruto smirked.

"Neither has Sasuke!" A fangirl yelled.

"Yeah yeah." Naruto waved off the girl. "Even Shikamaru would have a perfect record against his easy opponents."

Naruto chuckled to himself as he saw the class erupt in arguments. People that got beaten by Sasuke thinking that Naruto was insulting them, girls claiming that Sasuke would have won no matter what, Shikamaru just said to not bring him into this discussion. Naruto knew what he said wasn't true, but it was just bait and it looked like his target was taking it.

"I don't get easy opponents. It's not my fault I am better than everyone else." Sasuke said. Naruto could see Kiba grit his teeth and clench his fists to the side as Sasuke's comment, a couple other boys also taking exception to the raven's comments.

"Really?" Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "I don't know. Earlier this week you fought Kiba after he had to fight Shino the day before and he was left pretty tired. Did you even have to fight someone before that?"

Naruto knew that wasn't true. Sasuke had a spar the day before with a student ranked in the middle of the class. He wasn't a push over like Naruto was getting, but still not a challenge to someone like Sasuke.

"That's right!" Kiba growled. "I bet I would have taken you down if I was well rested."

"In your dreams mutt." Sasuke replied without even looking at Kiba. The Inuzuka boy looked ready to pounce, but a hand on his shoulder from Shikamaru kept him from rushing off.

"Naruto." Iruka stalked towards Naruto with a fist raised. Ready to smack the little loudmouth across the back of his head for trying to stir up trouble. "Knock it off and prepare for your spar."

"Come on Iruka-sensei!" Naruto whined again as Iruka tried to shut him down. "I promise I won't hurt him too bad."

"You know that not the reas-" Iruka tried to interrupt, but Naruto just kept going.

"I get that Sasuke is scared and all, but I'm not." Naruto finished, rolling right over Iruka's words.

All at once insults were shouted out at different parties. Sasuke fangirls screamed at Naruto for calling Sasuke scared. Kiba shouted that the treatment of Sasuke was unfair, clearly buying Naruto's tale. Iruka grit his teeth in frustration as he was losing control of the situation.

Sasuke, however, stalked right up and got right in Naruto's face.

"No one is afraid of you." Sasuke smirked in Naruto's face. "Iruka-sensei. Let me fight the dobe. If not, we will just fight after class."

Iruka lips set in a thin line as he glared at the blonde. He was trying to protect Naruto, but the blonde clearly didn't want any of it. At least if they did the spar here, he could monitor it and make sure no one got hurt too badly.

"Fine." Iruka finally let out in defeat. "Arata come back. Sasuke you are going against Naruto."

'Yes!' Naruto cheered mentally. 'It worked! It worked!'

Arata scurried back over to the outer circle and took up a spot to watch the match. Sasuke leisurely walked over to stand across from Naruto with his hands in his pockets. A confident smirk present the whole time.

'Look at this jackass trying to look cool.' Naruto thought while trying to keep a confident smile on his face and not scowl at him.

"Standard striking and grappling rules." Iruka announced. "Ring out, knockout, surrender or myself will determine the winner."

Iruka looked at the two boys. Both completely focused on one another and finally took a ready stance.

"Begin!" Iruka yelled as he backed out of the ring.

Iruka had barely finished the announcement and Naruto had launched forward. Sasuke's eyes had widened in surprise at the speed and suddenness of the move. Naruto had been more defensive than offensive ever since coming back with his new style. This was the complete opposite of what Sasuke had been observing the past two weeks. Sasuke hastily raised a guard to block the heavy swing coming from Naruto.

"Urghh." Sasuke grunted and winced in pain. The block completely blowing apart at the strength of the blow and sending him backwards several steps. He started to recover and raise his guard for the next blow, but Naruto had stopped and looked at him with a wide smile.

"Sorry Sasuke. Guess I got too excited." Naruto shrugged, feigning an apology. "I wasn't trying to hurt you."

The class was silent from the exchange.

"Dobe…" Sasuke growled out as he stood up and rubbed the soreness out of his arms. "I was planning on taking it easy on-"

"Knock it off with that non-sense." Naruto grinned with a wild look in his eyes, his hand in front of him and waving him to come at him. "Just bring it!"

Sasuke scowled but gave him exactly what he wanted and launched forward towards the blonde at high speed. The blond tried to throw a hook at incoming Uchiha, but the boy ducked right underneath of the blow and threw a blow right into Naruto's ribs. The strong thump of fists hitting muscle reverberated in the yard and caused the class to wince, but Naruto didn't show a grimace or react at all to the blow to everyone's surprise.

'That didn't hurt him!?' Sasuke thought wide eyed, looking at Naruto's grinning face.

'Oh my god that hurt!' Naruto cried in his mind, while trying his best to keep the pain showing off his face. 'He's not a strong as Kiba, but he's faster and the attacks are sharper.'

"That the best you have Sasuke?" Naruto asked as chopped his hand down to try and hit Sasuke on the head, but the boy rolled away just in time to avoid the strike. Naruto attempted to stomp on him as he rolled on the ground, but the Uchiha was too quick and bounced back up and created some distance between the two.

Sasuke scowled and wiped some of the dirt off his clothing. He knew that Naruto had improved, but this was a larger leap than he expected. The blonde had always been one of the better challengers at the academy, but never so much that he couldn't put him down easily. This Naruto was physically tougher, stronger, and faster than he had been before. But his new philosophy of taking every blow was ridiculous.

'It would take him only one strike to take his head off.' Sasuke thought, feeling his heartbeat increase at the thought of his brother. 'I will teach him to take this seriously.'

"Fine dobe." Sasuke spoke coldly. "I will show you what it means to fight like a shinobi."

Before Naruto could make a smart comment back, he realized that Sasuke was coming at him even faster than before. Instinct told him to dodge, but his training of the past months and his commitment wouldn't let him do such a thing. No time to swing at his opponent Naruto just braced himself for the impact and felt his head snap back as a jab landed on his nose. He felt a snap in his nose and his eyes immediately watered. He could immediately taste the blood as it ran down his nose and into his mouth.

Sasuke didn't relent as he sent two more quick successive strikes to the face of Naruto. Naruto's head snapped to both sides with each blow, but he never took a step back from where he was standing. He attempted to grab Sasuke, but nothing would land.

'You are either going to break your oath to block! Or you are going to be knocked out!' Sasuke thought as he steadily used his speed to assault the blonde and dodge his attempts to grab him. He would keep striking Naruto's face. 'You can't protect your brain with muscle idiot.'

'Fine! He wants to play that way!' Naruto felt his frustration getting the better of him as he was unable attack Sasuke back. He wanted to focus on Naruto's head? He would give it to him.

"Arghh!" Sasuke cried out in pain as his fist collided into Naruto's forehead and he threw his whole face towards the strike. His fingers nearly broke at the impact with the blonde's hard forehead.

'That was actually smart.' Iruka looked on. 'He interrupted the attack before Sasuke could fully extend.'

'Naruto-kun…' Hinata worried, looking at the blondes' bloody face and nose. She and the rest of the class winced when they saw Naruto grab his nose tightly and move it back into place and blow out some blood.

"Ah that's better." Naruto chuckled now that he fixed his nose, Sasuke just glared at him while holding his right hand with his other one. "Ready to play some more?"

"What is wrong with you!" Sasuke suddenly shouted, causing everyone to look in shock. "You think this is a game!? Are you playing around with your life?"

"Of course not." Naruto stated completely seriously. "I know everyone here doubts me, but I WILL become Hokage. And I will do it my way, never backing down and never looking back."

Sasuke stood there for a moment and looked at Naruto as if for the first time before he shook his head. "You're going to die Naruto."

Naruto was actually struck by the words that came from Sasuke. They weren't angry, or cold, or demeaning. He just stated it like a sincere fact with melancholy in his voice. When did Sasuke ever show worry or concern for anyone?

"I also have a goal." Sasuke said quietly. "One that I will achieve. I will do everything in my power to reach that point."

Naruto stared hard for a moment. "What is it?"

"That's not your business." Sasuke's voice was cold and his eyes hard. "But that is why I won't go around acting like a fool that is invulnerable. I've seen what the elites can do Naruto…your goals will end in the blink of an eye."

The class wasn't sure what to think about this interaction. It was probably the most that any of them had heard Sasuke talk in the past year. Iruka's eyebrows were furrowed as he made assumptions to the goal that Sasuke was talking about.

Naruto swallowed thickly and closed his eyes in thought. 'There's no going back…'

"I don't know why you are telling me this…but thanks." Naruto settled back into a ready stance. "Before we finish this…let me ask you something."

Sasuke resumed his stance. "Hn?"

"Would you ever do something that would take you a step back from your goal?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction and then they seemed to fill with determination. "Never."

"Same."

The two launched each other once again. Sasuke's strikes caused minimal damage to Naruto, but nothing that Naruto threw seemed to be able land as the Uchiha danced around him. Sasuke's experience with taijutsu and his training shows itself. It was a flurry of attacks that seemed completely one-sided, but one thing was starting to show itself.

'Sasuke is slowing down.' Iruka could tell. 'His stamina can't keep up. He needed the fight to end, but Naruto is barely winded.'

True the damage was stacking up on Naruto, but the Blonde was used to taking hits. The hits that Sasuke did at the beginning of the fight were full strength fight enders, hoping that the battle would be over right away. Since then, he has had to focus on dodging and attacking so the power was significantly less, but still sharp and precise. Sasuke was starting to pant heavily in between his attacks, but Naruto looked like he was barely struggling to keep up.

'Naruto's training has been incredible…' Iruka realized.

Sasuke's arms were starting to feel like lead, he needed to recover some stamina, but the moment he tried to back up, Naruto was jumping in to attack. He could only dodge for so long before a hit from Naruto glanced his shoulder and sent him rocking backwards.

Naruto saw his opportunity to possibly end the match. He put all of his strength into leaping forward and threw both of his feet out in a drop kick. It took everything Sasuke had to dive to the side and avoid the blow. Naruto recovered quickly and got back up to resume his assault.

"That's match." Iruka announced. "Sasuke wins."

Both teens looked shocked at the teacher, but he was pointing his hand at the ground below Naruto. His drop kick had sent his feet outside of the ring.

"Aw man!" Naruto complained. "I had him! Arghh what a dumb mistake."

As Naruto berated himself Sasuke stood up from the ground and brushed the dirt off himself. Some of Sasuke's fangirls cheered at him for the win, but there were a few students muttering between themselves at how close Naruto had gotten to victory. Sasuke himself was upset at his own shortcomings and the luck of his victory.

'Naruto-kun's gotten so strong…' Hinata looked on in awe as the blond was wiping the blood off of his face with a towel. 'But he gets so hurt.'

"Good job getting him out like that Sasuke, you positioned him perfectly." Mizuki smirked as spoke above everyone. Sasuke was about to rebuke the teacher, but decided it wasn't worth the effort if the man was just trying to suck up to him. Instead, he just looked Naruto in the eyes silently communicating that he didn't care for the teachers' words before he walked out of the ring.

"Naruto." The blonde's attention snapped over to Iruka when he heard his name called. "Sasuke wasn't wrong. You would have been dead in the first exchange if he had a weapon."

Naruto grit his teeth, ready to snap back. He had heard enough from Iruka and Sasuke about how he was doomed to die, and he had enough.

"It was still damn impressive though. You really have gotten stronger."

Naruto's mouth gaped like a fish. He had been about to unleash a tirade on Iruka when the teacher complimented him. A small blush of pink crossed his cheeks at the praise from the teacher.

"Go get the blood washed off yourself."

OoOoOoOoO

"Kengan Gym?"

Hinata poked her fingers together and bit her lip slightly as she looked at the building in front of her. Today had been the first day since the academy resumed that she had been able to not head straight home after the academy ended. She had to use the opportunity to follow Naruto to his new training destination.

She had come across him before in the woods in a small area that he uses for training, but he hadn't been there in months, and she did not know where he had disappeared to. Now with an opportunity to find out where, her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She wanted to know what he was doing that caused such a change in her crush. She was also curious about this master and the blonde woman that had brought him lunch several times at the academy.

She hadn't expected Naruto to go inside of a gym. She was hoping that he was simply at a new training field or somewhere open that she could see him from. Now that he was inside a building, she had a choice to make. Walk away and not see what was happening or try and peak in through the glass windows next to the entrance.

'Maybe I should just go…' She thought as she turned around to head home.

'But who is his master?' She turned around and looked back at the building.

'It would be so embarrassing if I got caught.' She turned around again.

'How is he becoming so much stronger?' She turned around again.

'Just a peak right?'

Slowly she started sneaking towards the building and trying to stay out of line of sight of anyone that could be looking out of the windows. She crouched below the window and slowly peaked her head up.

'N-Naruto!'

Her eyes went wide, and her cheeks flushed as she saw Naruto. He was in a skintight shirt and shorts that only went to about mid-thigh. He was currently doing squats up and down with a glistening sheen of sweat.

"Oh?!" A deep voice behind her rumbled, shocking her to her core. "What do we have here?"

OoOoOoOoO

"114…115…116" Naruto whispered to himself with every single squat, but truthfully, he wasn't completely focused on the exercise. His mind was still on his fight with Sasuke from earlier and the words that were spoken to him.

'What is Sasuke's goal?' He wondered what was driving Sasuke so much that he would have that kind of reaction when talking about it. Truthfully, he didn't know that much about Sasuke besides him also being an orphan even though he was originally from a clan. He was always treated so differently than Naruto growing up.

Sasuke was always showered with praise and attention. He was the pretty boy from the famous clan that all the girls fawned over. The genius child that succeeded at everything.

Naruto was showered with disdain or ignored. He was the average kid from the orphanage that no girls liked. The dead last of the class who could barely control his chakra.

Naruto couldn't help but be jealous and resentful of the attention Sasuke received.

Sasuke was always showered with the thing that Naruto wanted the most, but he ignored it. Sasuke would be praised and talked to, but he either ignored the person or asked them to leave him alone.

And that was what made Sasuke's words stick to his thoughts so much.

Naruto didn't normally talk to anyone, and when he did talk to Naruto it was usually only to insult him. What Sasuke said stuck to him more than Iruka's words because he thought that Sasuke wouldn't care what happened to him.

That's what made it so difficult to ignore. He wouldn't give up, but he couldn't deny that it shook him some.

"Hey kid!"

Naruto's face lit up in excitement and he jumped up to look towards the entrance of the gym at the voice. His face immediately turned into a mix of worry and confusion.

Sekibayashi looked more banged up than he had ever seen him before. His arm was wrapped in a cast and sling across his body. Naruto could make out bandages wrapped around his body from under his unbuttoned shirt. What surprised Naruto the most thought was the red-faced girl being held up by the back of her jacket in Sekibayashi's good hand.

"I brought you a gift!" Sekibayashi grinned.

"H-Hinata?!"

Said girl fainted immediately.

OoooooooooooooooooooooO

Made the change over to Responsibility of the Strong officially. I am glad people like the name change.

I have never been a huge fan of Sasuke if I am honest. But I also don't think he as terrible of a person as some fics portray him as in the earlier part of the series. My preference is to portray him as someone that had his bonds removed and doesn't want to make new ones. As it stands Sasuke is the much better shinobi than Naruto, but if it comes to a bar brawl then Naruto has the edge.