to speak without sound Chapter 2: 02, a naruto fanfic

to speak without sound

rating: M

warnings: violence, profanity, depressing topics, puke (descriptions), minor language

everything from naruto rightfully belongs to masashi kishimoto.

...

"I'm sorry, Naruto…" Sakura looked down at the ground without hesitation. "If only I had gotten there quicker–or maybe I could have done something about it…" She felt guilty, almost as if it was her fault that Naruto's vocal cords were ruptured.

Naruto just stood there, awkwardly looking away while trying not to pick at his bandages. Man, were they uncomfortable. It's like it was scratching his neck on purpose, and it angered him. The medical center had to change it out multiple times yet it was still soaked in blood, well, it was dried now, but Naruto couldn't help but keep thinking about it. He opened his mouth to say something, like 'It's okay, Sakura, I'm not dead' but he realized again that his neck was all battered up and stopped himself.

"Naruto, you only just got released from the medical center, so please don't engage in serious training. You may do light work, though." Kakashi told him, putting a hand on his shoulder before walking towards the wooden poles. "You can practice your Kunai aim on these." The words stabbed Naruto hard in the gut. He wanted to be involved with whatever the others were going to do. It was a team effort. That's how Kakashi always enforced everything, but–today was different. He was healing, but why couldn't he just bounce back into training? Kakashi waved over Sakura and Sasuke and they walked a little further away. Naruto picked up the Kunai from the ground and stared at it blankly. Then he looked up at his teammates–

They looked like they were having a really fun time, training and all that, learning new things... Getting stronger… Without Naruto.

His stomach, for some reason, started feeling really icky.

And then Naruto puked.

It splattered down onto the grass and also covered his hand with the Kunai in it. Like a mixture of all that he ate this morning, the food that was fed to him by the doctors in the medical center. He ate all sorts of blended-up things, like soupy fruits and vegetables. Basically, it sucked. It was worse though when he barfed it out, because now it all mixed together and made him feel sick, and it also made a sharp pain rise up in his throat again.

The puke dribbles down his chin, it's sticky and looks like a brownish shade of green. It's coated all over his mouth and he can taste it on his tongue. On the ground, the grass is stained with the splatter of throw up like it's a crime scene. Can't forget about the smell, either. It smells like the taste of lemons combined with other stuff. It actually smells so bad that he can taste it.

So, why did he regurgitate all of the food he had eaten again? Naruto doesn't know. He'll never know. All he does know is that he's feeling like crap. Maybe it's seeing his teammates training without him, or maybe it's that he's not able to talk–

"Naruto?!" He looks up to see Sakura turned over in his direction. She begins to run over as Sasuke and Kakashi quickly swivel around to look at him. As she gets closer, she notices the smell and puts her fingers on her nose. Naruto can see the look of disgust on her face as she stares at the puke for a few seconds and then turns her head away. "...Are…are you alright?" She reaches out her free hand to put it on Naruto's shoulder but he bats it away. Sakura steps backward to this, and the other two appear. Sasuke notices the puke and stays off to the side in order to prevent himself from stepping in it.

"..." Naruto opens his mouth again. He's struggling to even regain his composure.

"Sakura, Sasuke. Continue training." Kakashi says to the two of them and then gets closer to Naruto to help him out. He even steps in the puke, disgusting, but… "It's not your fault, Naruto." He tells the blonde, but Naruto can't help but think he's lying. He got himself into this mess. Kakashi hands him a small cloth from one of his pockets to wipe his mouth. Naruto gratefully takes it, even though he's not showing it, and wipes his face with the cloth.

He looks down at the puke on the ground.

"Oh, that? It's nothing. I'll clean it up."

"..."

"If you want, you can sit down," Naruto begins shaking his head violently. "No, okay, I get it! Naruto, stop that!" Kakashi puts his hand on Naruto's shoulder to stop him. "You'll wound yourself again." He insisted and walked Naruto somewhere else to have him sit down in the grass miserably.

Kakashi gave him a reassuring look and then walked over to the other two standing in the grass. They both looked concerned, but Kakashi waved it off and then had them continue. However, that reassuring look was not enough for Naruto. It didn't feel like the normal sensei he knew, and for some reason, he had a gut feeling that something was wrong. The way that Kakashi singled out Naruto from everyone else, and how he stopped the other two from going near–it wasn't right. Naruto knew that Kakashi would always carry out the message of a team effort, no matter what.

And even though he did act pretty damn like his sensei, whoever was impersonating Kakashi was up to no good.

…

"Looks like our work is done, fella." Two ninja sit next to each other in the trees as they look down at the passed out blonde down below. One of them smirks, holding five more kunai in his fingers. He throws the kunai to the ground in a circle around the boy and then stands up along with the ninja next to him.

"Once that Jinchuriki is dead, everything will go along with Sir Danzo's plans," The other says, and they both chuckle. They jump up and disappear, leaving the boy to bleed out to death.

The two swiftly return to the window of a deserted house later in the night, spotting a man sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. He had bandages over his left eye and his arm was also covered up, however, he seemed to have an eerie aura about him. The two ninja hop down from the windowsill.

"Sir Danzo. We killed the Jinchuriki kid just like you asked," One said, with a mischievous grin on his face. Danzo looked at him and chuckled.

"Thank you. Now go. I dismiss you." He tells the two. They both suddenly have a look of shock on their faces, before their expressions shift into anger.

"What do you mean, go? We did the job, where's our reward?!" The other steps forward angrily. Two men who were wearing ANBU attire unsheathed their swords and pointed them at the two ninja. He backs down quickly, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"...Sorry." He replies, his hands shaking behind his back. "It's no problem…"

The two ninja climb up onto the windowsill again and disappear, seeming to be not only disappointed but also scared. All Danzo had to do was to wait for his plan to begin. And he was going to execute it perfectly.

…

"What do you mean the Jinchuriki isn't dead?!" Danzo slammed his hands on the desk of his office. He was enraged at this point. The two brats didn't kill him!

"Naruto Uzumaki was reported to the Konoha medical center yesterday," A man who is part of the ANBU is standing in front of the desk explaining. "He is alive." A few other ANBU stand guard behind him.

"Bring me the ninjas." Danzo tells them. "Bring me them now!" The ANBU nod, and then leave through the door. A few minutes later, they return with the two ninja. One of them looks anxious and the other just has a look of annoyance on his face. They walk up to the front of the desk, waiting for Danzo to speak. They don't dare speak first.

"Naruto Uzumaki is alive. You imbeciles didn't kill him." Danzo gets straight to the point, and both of the men's faces go into shock.

"Wh…what do you mean?! We watched him die!" One yells.

"I need you to actually kill him this time."

"...What can we do…" The other whimpers. Then the man slams his hand on the desk. "I got it, Sir Danzo! I'm good at transformation jutsu, so maybe I can turn into the boy's sensei," He chuckles mischievously, trying to get approval from Danzo. The man across the desk is confused for a moment, before smirking.

"I like your idea."

…

Kakashi looked back at Naruto. His hands were sweating pretty badly, and he didn't think it would be this hard to teach a few kids. Not to mention, he had to clean up nasty puke… The blonde was staring at him menacingly. Could it be that he already picked up his disguise, and that he really wasn't their teacher? He could tell that the Uchiha boy was more keen than the Uzumaki, but for some reason, he hadn't found out. Danzo had prepared immense training on this and made him research all of the kids so that he wouldn't seem to be suspicious. Yet Naruto had already found out that he was not Kakashi. However, he smirked to himself, the boy could not tell anyone. It was a win-win situation for him, because Naruto had lost his vocal cords. All he had to do was to get Naruto to trust him and kill him when he's alone. It should be easy enough, because the other two children are ignorant.

"Kakashi-sensei, is everything alright?" Sakura asked him. He snapped back into focus and nervously smiled, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm okay. I just…. umm…" He was thinking of something to say. What would Kakashi be sad about? Danzo told him he liked books and he would often read during training. "A book in my favorite series isn't… available yet," He said. Sasuke eyed him.

"What series is it?" The boy asked. Was he onto something? Kakashi began to sweat again.

"Ah, well–It's not really appropriate for kids like you to know…" He said, on a whim. Kakashi surely didn't read books like this, but he didn't want to reveal his secret because he didn't know what book series. (He didn't know that Kakashi read inappropriate books, anyway) Sasuke gave him a glare. The boy could tell that Kakashi was hiding something, but what…?

Meanwhile, Naruto stared at his sensei and teammates. He was sure of it. The way Kakashi had acted didn't seem right to him–and he had to tell someone about it. Then it dawned on him. The person who tried to kill him must have used transformation jutsu to turn into his teacher, and knew he wouldn't be able to speak… So that nobody could know! Naruto wanted to yell so bad at him. He was angry because he couldn't do anything about the information he held. He only wished that Sasuke would catch on like he did, so he just kept on staring. Angrily. Right at the fake Kakashi.

hahhh this took so long... i had to edit this document multiple times because ffn was being annoying... but thank you to those who followed/favorited this story! i appreciate it!