Chapter 20
Sasuke stepped out from under the store’s cover. He was holding a bag full of ramen, he may be a genius and a talented thinker, but Uchiha Sasuke was not above bribery when the need arose. He moved heavily, but with purpose.
“Sasuke!” A happy voice called to him, he swiveled upon recognizing it.
“Sakura.” He replied with a curt nod. The pink haired girl approached him with a dark haired girl at her back.
“Thats a lot of ramen...” SHe said noticing the bag, then gave him a thoughtful glance.
“I’m glad you rethought it.” She said softly. Sasuke bit his lip and nodded curtly again, trying no to think about yesterday’s occurances.
“He wasn’t at his house.” A soft voice came from behind Sakura. The raven looked around the pink haired girl to view the speaker.
“Excuse me?” The pale eyed girl locked eyes with him hesistantly, before speaking queitly.
“Naruto... He’s not at his house... If he’s as upset as Sakura said he is there are a couple places he would go.” Sasuke studied her familiar face before placing her.
“You’re Hinata. That girl that Naruto was so considerate to.” He said thoughtfully.
“Yes, I am. And you’re Sasuke. The boy that Naruto adores like a brother.” She said sadly. Sasuke gave the girl a once over.
“What was that tone for?” He asked, curious. A red blush exploded across her face.
“Nothing! It was nothing!” She whispered fiercely. A smile creapt across his face.
“Hmm... It sounded a lot like jealousy to me....” Sasuke shrugged and began walking down the street.
“It was not!” He heard her whisper at him.
“Stop worrying about what I know to be true and start talking about his secret spots!” Sasuke said over his shoulder. That shut her up for a little bit.
“The Hokage Monument.” She said at last.
“Just on top of the Fourth’s head.” Sasuke kept moving, but his movements had taken a certain jerking quality.
“Whats wrong Sasuke?” Sakura said. The raven stopped cold, and turned to her.
“Hinata. How much did Naruto tell you?” The Hyuuga girl watched him carefully.
“He told me alot. But I put a lot more together on my own.” She whispered. Sasuke nodded in understanding.
“I still don’t understand..” Sakura said, her eyes dimming in sadness. Sasuke gripped her shoulders.
“I’m not sure if this is my place.. But still. You remember at Tazuna’s house?” He waited till she nodded.
“He tried to commit suicide?”
“Yes... But that wasn’t his first atempt...” Sasuke said slowly. A small gasp slipped from the pinkette’s mouth, and tears pooled in her eyes.
“What?”
“Naruto’s had a tough life. Harder than is almost believable.” He whispered down at her. She nodded in understanding.
“Then, why are we standing here!” She said with a tone of steel determination. Sasuke only smiled down at her.
Naruto was busy staring into the sky. He hadn’t moved all night, the Hokage’s words floated through his mind, causing him to question everything.
Living is hard... But only Living is worth it....
“Stupid old man... Doesn’t know what he’s talking about...” Naruto breathed out. The blue sky was a calming agent on his nerves and his broken spirit, and the slowly moving clouds helped distract him from the moment. He sat up from the bench, and went to the very edge of the cliff face, and sat down on the railing. Staring down at the bustling village, he started to think.
Does anyone honestly care that I am up here? He sighed and let the thought vanish. Just looking down at the major city, reminded him of all the horrors these quiet, kind people were able to inflict. Their hate and anger, ran deep, deeper than anyone could ever know. The blond just stared downwards, trying to understand why anyone would want to protect this place. The more time he spent on it, he couldn’t come up with a single time when this village had been home to him.
Hell, even the Country of Waves had felt more like home than this. No one yelled at me, glared at me, talked behind my back. They were nice and kind.
The hot tears began to run down his cheeks.
Why the hell AM I here? What on earth is worth protecting? I’m not!
A soft sob escaped his lips, but he knew he was alone, no one would come here with him sitting there. As soon as the sadness sunk in, it was gone, now an overwhelming sense of nothingness filled its place.
Sasuke almost died because of me... The haunting torturous thought floated in of its own volition.
You couldn’t even defend yourself. Because you’re weak, you almost caused the death of the only person to acknowledge you. You are pathetic. You ARE a monster.
The voices slashed at him, cutting deep into the already existing wounds. Naruto gasped through the internal pain, trying to hold in everything. This time, the view of Konoha was blurred and distorted, as he looked. He let the tears fall, watching them drop down into the empty air below him.
“I don’t see him Hinata.” The raven said impatiently, and began walking in another direction. Hinata scowled at him before checking behind another tree.
“NARUTO!” She screamed, causing the raven to run back at her. As he turned the corner, the sight greeting his eyes stopped his heart. Naruto was sitting atop the railing and leaning out too far.
“NARUTO!” They bellowed together. This time the blond took notice and turned to face them. His eyes were swimming with tears, and his eyes filled with incomprehensible pain.
“Sasuke? Hinata-” He said shocked, and slipped as he turned to face them. For a moment he was frozen, just staring at his friends, the pain gone replaced by the warmest blue eyes he’d ever seen, then he fell backwards off the edge.
“NARUTO!” THey screamed desperately and ran to the edge.
The sensation of falling from so great a height was strange. Naruto knew he was falling, but he felt light, almost buoyant. When he’d turned to see the three of them, his heart had stopped. They all looked so worried, so frightened.
For me, He thought warmly.
They cared. I think I understand now... He thought, strangely calm.
“THey love this place... Because of the people around them..” He wondered aloud.
“NARUTO!” Hinata’s broken, panicked cry cut through his musings, and brought him back to his reality. He glance up at her, locking eyes for a fraction of a second before he began to react.
Hinata, Sasuke, Sakura, Itachi, and even Kakashi floated up in his mind, smiling and waving at him. Warmth blossomed in his chest, for the first time, the will to live burst in his mind, sending scorching waves of power through his body.
I want to live! I want to live with them! I want a life to share with others! He thought feverishly, and whipped himself around in mid-air, forming seals.
Hinata’s heart shattered into a million pieces as she witnessed the blond falling of the rail. When she reached the treacherous thing, she was in tears and sobs were coming from her mouth. She saw the blond falling as though in slow motion, his eyes were up looking at them, they were shaded almost as if he was not there.
“NARUTO!” The scream tore itself from her throat, with her unable to even think. He seemed to hear her, and snapped out of whatever haze he’d been in. He looked into her eyes, and she gasped, the look in his eyes had changed. She saw the will to live, the will to fight in them, and she began to sob. He flipped around and performed a technique that shot him back to the wall. He hit the wall, and his decent began to slow as he tried to hold himself to the wall, using chakra. Then, something went wrong and he fell again.
“NO!” She heard Sakura scream.
“Wind Style: Pressured Stream!” He spat, and pushed himself back to the wall. The chakra in his feet already began to slow his fall. But the decent was still going too fast, and Naruto hit a tiny rock outcropping, tripping him backwards.
Dang it! I actually want to live... I don’t wanna die yet! He fell for a few seconds before he felt strong arms catch him.
“Hey brat! Don’t you know that playing on the railings is dangerous.” A mock severe voice called out.
“K-kakashi?” Naruto sputtered and turned to see the silver haired man.
“Yo!”
“Hey what are we? Chopped liver?” A warm voice called from his other side.
“Iruka-sensei?” Naruto choked out in disbelief.
“My, my, my Naruto. How do you always end up in these pickles.” A deep amused voice chuckled from behind.
“What the- Itachi?”
“Come one blondie! I’m sure Otouto, has a lot to say to you right now.” Itachi said amused as the three ninja helped the confused blond back up the cliff face.
“NARUTO!” Sakura screamed and threw herself on him, pulling him into a bone shattering hug.
“Oi, Noisy girl. Let go before you kill him.” Sasuke’s shaky voice called out, and Sakura pulled away sheepishly. Naruto faced Hinata a little shamefacedly. He stepped up to her slowly.
“Hey, Hina-” He was stopped by a quick slap, from the crying girl.
“You promised!” She said through the falling tears.
“You promised that you wouldn’t ever do something like that ever again.” She hissed as he grabbed his cheek.
“You promised...You promised...” She said tearing up again, this time the blond stepped up and swept her into a hug.
“I know. I’m sorry, Hinata. I’ll never put you through that again. I didn’t intend to fall. It was an accident.” He whispered to her and stroked her hair. She just sobbed into him, letting everything out.
“Yo-you promise? Y-you w-weren-n’t tr-trying to leave?” She stuttered through the sobs.
“Of course not. I finally have a reason to stay.” He cooed to her.
“You were my first friend..” She whispered to him. He forced her to look at him, and flashed her a brilliant smile.
“I’m your first friend? Well, look around you now Hinata. They’re all your friends.” He whispered back gently. She turned and saw all the people around them, and buried her head into his chest in shame. Naruto chuckled but didn’t force her away.
“Oi, Dobe.” Sasuke said, finally getting himself under control.
“Hey, Sasuke.”
“What in the hell were you doing on the railing?” Sasuke growled with barely controlled rage.
“uh... I was thinking... I was just thinking was all...” He put his hands up in his defence.
“Well dobe, if it was thinking that made you think that you were weak or the cause of my injuries, then stop doing it!” He spat angrily, his eyes sparking. Then, his eyes cooled.
“You know, I bought you a gift, well a bribe, but I don’t think that you deserve it.” He said quietly allowing Naruto to see the contents of the bag.
“Hey! Sasuke! You know that I never wanted to jump right! I just fell!” THe blond pleaded, his eyes wide staring at the precious contents of the bag. Sasuke glared at himfor a moment before relenting and handing it over to the pleading blond.
“THANK YOU SASUKE!” He cried and tried to hold both Hinata and the Ramen close.
“Hey, why were you guys so close? I mean, thanks for saving me and all, but how the hell did you know I was here?” Naruto quipped.
“I was coming to get you guys, and saw blond on the Monument.” Kakashi shrugged.
“I was with Kakashi.” Iruka said with a smile.
“I was following Sasuke, since he tried to leave without me this morning.” Itachi said in a bored voice. Naruto glared at the older Raven, who simply blew him a kiss and stalked off saying he had work to do, when he turned to his senseis.
“So, whats up? I mean... The two of you together... I don’t wanna judge...” Naruto said with a smile. Iruka just stared at him, completely unsure of what was going on, then the words finally clicked.
“NONONO! It was nothing like that! Like I would ever!” The younger yelled, and blanched, while Kakashi shook his head.
“Iruka are you saying I’m ugly?” He said with a sad look in his eye.
“NO! I’M SAYING I’M STRAIGHT!” He huffed at the masked man.
“Oh, good! I was worried for a moment.” The silver haired man said quickly.
“Anyways! I’m here to tell you three, that I’ve put in your names for the Chuunin Exams.” Kakashi said, pulling his book out.
“what?” The three chroused together.
“mmm... If you pass, then you’ll be Chunin. If you don’t... Then you’re stuck with me for another round.” He said with a smile. Naruto turned to his fellows.
“The hell we are! We’re passing the test!” They chanted together.
“Good. Then tomorrow you’ll be reporting to the first testing grounds. I hope you guys are ready.” Kakashi smiled at them, his smile telling them of his confidence in them.
“Alright! Come on, Iruka! Lets go!” He reached for the younger Chunin, but he stepped up to the blond.
“Naruto, I want to talk to you.” He said blithly ignoring the other man.
“THe tests are dangerous. So when you and your team go through them, you will have to be working as a team, not just as ninja. You must be willing to risk yourself, and let your teammates risk themselves as well.” Iruka said gently, placing a hand on Naruto’s shoulder.
“Only when you reach the level of respect with each other, can you truly trust each other and depend on one another in combat. Never forget. Your team is the only thing that you can even count on.” Iruka gave them a smile.
“I believe in you all.” He said with a wave and vanished with Kakashi. After a moment of silence Naruto shook his head.
“I don’t care what they say. The way they just acted, I’m sure they’re together.”
“NARUTO!” His friends yelled at him.
“What?”
“Don’t spread rumors!” Sakura growled.
“Don’t belittle Iruka!” Sasuke said offhandedly.
“At least wait until they come and say it.” Hinata tore herself from the hug to say.
“So you don’t doubt it either, Hinata?” The frosty glare he recieved told him he wasn’t out of the doghouse quite yet.
“Alright, I’ll drop it. If we go get lunch! I’m starving! Almost dying is hard work!” He said with a puppy dog look to his best friends. They stared at him completely shocked, before bursting into laughter.
“Fine, Dobe. Lets go eat.”
“YES! Sasuke’s paying!”
“Hey! I didn’t say that!”
“But you said lets go eat...”
“...” Sasuke glared at him, and Naruto fixed his puppy blue eyes on Sakura.
“Sakura-chan! Don’t you want Sasuke to treat us?” He whined.
“uh... well it would be nice..” She said hesitantly.
“............ Fine. I’ll treat.”
“WOOHOOO!” The blond ran forward pulling Hinata, Sakura, and Sasuke with him.
“Come on! It can be the first time we all eat together as friends!” The blond said with a brilliant smile, a smile that the others couldn’t help but return.
“Alright dobe. Your friends are coming.”
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