Chapter 3: Revelation
Naruto and Sakura walked down the streets, heading to Naruto’s favourite store for lunch.
“Naruto, Sakura!”
The two turned at the sound and Naruto grinned when realized who it was walking towards them.
“Iruka-sensei!” Naruto waved at the tanned chunin.
“Where are the two of you going?” Iruka smiled as he reached his two ex students who greeted him.
“We are going to Ichiraku. Need to fill up my stomach before meeting Tsunade baa-chan.” The teen grinned at his teacher. Iruka laughed.
“Well, you wouldn’t mind that I join you for lunch then?”
“Heh, of course not, Iruka-sensei. As long as you are the one buying it.” Naruto smirked.
“Well, that’s not a problem. Come on.” Iruka ruffled the blond hair and smiled.
The trio arrived at the ramen store and placed their orders. The orders came shortly and Naruto smiled at the steaming bowl in front of him.
“Itadakimasu!”
Iruka smiled as he took a pair of chopsticks and got ready to eat. It was then he noticed that the boy beside him was deep in thoughts as he pushed the noodles into his mouth.
“Naruto, something wrong?”
Naruto’s head snapped up. “No… Nothing.” His returned to concentrating on eating his ramen. Iruka sighed and put his chopsticks down. Sakura glanced over at her team mate in curiosity.
“Naruto, I watched you grow up. I know when there’s something wrong. Come on and tell me.” Iruka looked at him firmly.
“Haha… It’s nothing actually. I think I’m just being paranoid.” The blond laughed and scratched his head. “I’m just thinking about something.”
Iruka arched his eyebrow. This is interesting. In fact, it seems to him that this is the first time that Naruto is actually using his head to think.
“Well, tell me. Maybe I can offer you a solution.” Iruka smiled.
“Well….” Naruto turned and took another mouthful of the ramen. “It’s Kakashi-sensei.” Iruka jerked at the name. He struggled to keep his cool as the blond continued.
“He’s behaving rather weirdly for the last few days. Or rather, I only noticed it this morning. But Sakura-chan said that she had noticed that Kakashi-sensei had been behaving the same way for the last few days.” At this, Sakura turned away and sighed.
“And?” Iruka frowned.
“Well, Kakashi-sensei has been spacing out lately. I know that Kakashi-sensei is always reading his book while we are talking and never seems to fully concentrate on what we say. But he is not someone irresponsible. And although he doesn’t appears to, we know that he always listens to us, no matter how trivial the matter.” Sakura continued. Naruto nodded.
“But the last few days, he’s a little different. He’s doesn’t even register when we talk to him. And he looks tired. Like he hasn’t been sleeping. When I ask him about it, he just shrugs it off. But, I’ve noticed that nonchalance comes with something else. It seems like he’s hurt. I wonder what is wrong.” Sakura set down her chopsticks and glanced at her bowl of ramen.
“Is it affecting you guys?”
Naruto glanced at his sensei and nodded. Sakura sighed.
“It is, I should say. We are Team Kakashi now. And he’s our team leader. And it makes us helpless to know that there is something wrong, but we can’t help him. He’s still good and all and completes his missions professionally. But… It’s just that…. I wish there is something we can do to relieve his burden.”
“But you know Kakashi. He has always been withdrawn. He’s a good leader and teacher. But he’s just, I should say… Closed up. He’s just a skilled and affected ninja.” Iruka said as he tried to keep the blush from his face.
“That is true. But we are a team now. And as he said it before, we are one. It’s just frustrating that your team member is in pain and you can’t do anything.” Sakura pushed the bowl of ramen away and settled for staring at the glass of water in front of her instead.
“I don’t want the same thing to happen like it did with Sasuke. Just because we didn’t understand his pain enough.” Naruto mumbled. Iruka looked at Naruto in shock and Sakura just gave a bitter smile.
“Naruto, what are you talking about? Kakashi will never betray Konoha.” Iruka gasped.
“Well, you are right. He won’t. But I just wish I can do something for him.” Naruto trailed off. Iruka turned back to his bowl of ramen and frowned.
He hadn’t notice anything wrong with Kakashi over the last few days. When he talked to Kakashi, he was always his own carefree self. Why hadn’t he noticed that Kakashi was actually in pain or whatever reasons that his students had just mentioned? Was he less observant of Kakashi than Sakura or even Naruto was?
‘I guess it can’t be helped. We haven’t actually talked much in the past week. The only time we meet is at night and even then, we only spend less than an hour talking before sleep actually take over. And he’s always gone before I wake up.’
Iruka sighed. ‘Am I asking too much from him?’
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Chapter notes: Well, this chapter is more or less beginning to show the strain in their relationship.