Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Because You Never Knew ❯ Part 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Ah! This chapter took some time. Sorry Minna. I'm not very good with fight scenes or describing missions and stuff. Gomen kudasai!

A big thank you to b4k4-girl for beta-reading this fic. She's so totally rocks man!

Enjoy minna! And I'm sorry for this chapter being late. Really, I am. For some reason, ff.net did now want to log me in. Don't know why. So part of the blame goes to them too! ^___^

BEACAUSE YOU NEVER KNEW 7

Naruto did not head back to his apartment, but towards the Hokage's office. Just as he was about to take a turn down the hall, Lee came face to face with him, approaching from the opposite side.

"Are? Naruto! I can't believe you forgot our lunch date!" Lee cried out, fisting his hand and looking at him with a sad and fiery expression. For as long as Naruto could remember, Lee was the only person who could carry off the sad and fiery expression at the same time. He remembered practicing it in front of the mirror when he was stuck in the inn in the Water Country for a few days. That was before he was taken away.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry. Uh - I just went for a walk."

Lee gave him a look, knowing that he was lying and was covering up for something. "Oh well. Glad I found you. Come on! I'm starving! Teaching kids physical exercises has made me hungry."

"What are we having anyway?" Naruto asked, and raised an eyebrow when Lee gave him a wide grin.

XXX

"Oh." Naruto said, eyes wide as he stared at the generous spread on the table "You're paying right? I don't mean to sound thrifty, but I haven't got my pay yet. And this is quite -" Naruto couldn't even think of a word to describe the spread before him. He had so many to choose from. There were stir fried noodles, honey-roasted chicken wings, fried rice with vegetables, dumplings, steamed buns, crab soup, grilled salmon, barbequed beef, deep fried shrimp and fries. "Plenty."

"Is it?" Lee asked, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile on his lips. "Well, Gai-sensei heard of your arrival and he insisted that I order these. See? He even gave me a list." Lee produced a yellow, palm-sized piece of lined paper with a list written by Gai himself.

Naruto merely smiled. "Looks like Gai-sensei hasn't changed."

"Which reminds me!" Lee said, snapping his fingers. "Gai-sensei apologizes that he can't join us now. He said he'll drop by you once his mission is done."

"Mission?" Naruto asked, picking up his chopsticks and helping himself to some rice on his plate. "That's all right. It's very nice of him to give me a rather.... colorful welcome."

"Ah! I insist you try the crab soup! It's really nice!"

As the meal progressed, Lee told Naruto endless stories of his students in the academy. Lee had become a Jounin but worked as an Academy physical ed instructor. It was a rather bland job, but he enjoyed training the children in the taijutsu that seemed to be lacking in majority of the youngsters. So far, all had been going well for the past four years for Lee. According to him, being a jounin was pretty much like being a chuunin. Only you had more command, more responsibilities and got the high-ranked missions.

"Of course, skill is useful too, you know!" Lee said, picking up a dumpling and biting it.

Naruto lifted his glass of fruit juice and took a sip. "How is everyone, Lee?" He set the glass down and took some more rice.

"Everyone?" Lee blinked then a sad look glazed his face. "It's been difficult Naruto. Everyone is having a difficult time. You know that organization, Akatsuki?" Naruto felt his blood freeze and he accidentally dropped the chopsticks he was holding.

"Yeah. I've heard of them."

Lee sighed. "Well, they've been rather troublesome. Neji and Sasuke are ANBU second-in-commands, while Shikamaru, Kiba and Shino are part of another team. They've been assigned to missions involving troubles caused by that organization and it's been really bad. They return barely even seeing what's in front of them. On more than one occasion, Neji returned in a coma, while Sasuke was barely breathing."

"Are they still functioning as ANBU?" Naruto asked, curiosity piqued.

"Yes. Even after all that happened, none of them quit. They keep trying to bring the organization down, along with its affiliates." Lee said. "I've encountered one of their members, two years ago." Lee looked at his plate, a sad look gracing his face. "If it weren't for Kakashi-san coming in time with Gai-sensei, I would have been done for."

Naruto stared at his food. "I see."

"But other than that, I guess everyone is fine. Hinata is working as a medic-nin in the hospital along with Ino. Sakura and Chouji are teaching in the academy while Tenten has a team of genins assigned under her charge. Everyone pretty much drifted apart. They all have their own lives now." He then grinned. "Sakura and Shino are engaged to get married. Shino is going resign his position as an ANBU member within this year, or so I heard. They're getting married next spring."

Naruto felt a smile tug at his lips. "That's really nice. I'm happy for them."

"Yup! It's the gossip of the month. Oh well, year, actually." Lee shrugged. Naruto gave him a smile, feeling happy in seeing his old friend and taijutsu-practice-partner. Lee had grown his hair and now sported a ponytail and longer bangs. Gone was the ultra-bowl hair cut and his face had matured quite nicely, giving him high proud cheekbones and almond shaped eyes. Even the thick eyebrows didn't look as horrible. Lee actually looked sweet.

"It's been a while, huh?" Naruto said.

Lee's eyes softened and he lifted his glass, staring at the orange liquid. "Yeah." Naruto began to poke his food around his plate. "Everyone missed you, you know." Naruto didn't reply. "Especially Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi-san." Naruto stiffened. "Sasuke went moody for quite sometime and every time your name popped up, he'd go mad. Sakura cried for as long as I could remember. Kakashi-san was - well - I don't know. He sounded and looked rather lost and depressed. At least that's what Gai-sensei told me."

"It was for the best." Naruto said, his hand reaching for the ring around his necklace from under the fabric of his shirt. "I - There were things I needed to find out for myself."

"Did you find them?" Lee asked, looking up to look him in the eye.

Naruto continued fingering the ring from under his shirt. He then clasped it tightly. He wanted to understand what his father saw in Konoha. That was the reason right? Naruto's eyes darkened with emotion. Lee watched him silently. Naruto thought about why he left. No, it wasn't because of his father. It was not because of training either.

"Did you find what you're looking for?" Lee asked again.

Naruto removed his grip from the ring. "I don't know." He said sadly, looking up at Lee. "I don't even know what I'm looking for." Lee merely looked at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Funny isn't it? I'm looking for something that I don't even know."

Lee shook his head. "No. It's not funny at all Naruto." He gave him a wide smile. "Maybe what you're looking for is just waiting for you around the corner, ne?"

Naruto was about to ask Lee what he meant by that but Lee called the waitress for dessert.

XXX

Short swords strapped in place, Naruto did another double check to make sure he had all his gear. He had reread the mission scroll several times. According to it, there was a group of wanted nins residing by the mountains right after the border of the Fire Country. It wasn't a far journey and with chakra-induced speed, he'd get there in about twenty minutes flat or maybe even ten if no trouble occurred. He checked his short swords, kunais and shurikens along with the other essential tools he needed before lifting the feline-like porcelain mask to his face and securing.

Then he was soaring across the roofs of Konoha under the pale crescent moonlight, until the village got smaller and smaller. Within the mission scroll that he had already memorized was an enclosed map. He scouted the area and found no traps or any form of genjutsu. He located the camp almost immediately and he found it quiet and peaceful, the sound of light, sleeping breaths reaching his ears. He took out three shurikens and placed all three in a triangular position around the camp. He knelt before one and did several quick seals with his hands.

A chakra glowing light formed the triangle, its corners being the three shurikens he positioned around the camp. The glowing blue chakra light then turned into black shadows streaked with silver that soon became blades. "Moonlight shadow no jutsu." Naruto whispered and the blades slashed through his targets. Just as he was about to disengage the jutsu, he heard a loud yelp, then a gasp. Flesh being torn echoed in the night, but there was something different. Something that did not sound like flesh being ripped. He turned his head to the source of the sound and found a child, maybe nine or ten, staring as the camp turned into a bloody mess. Naruto's eyes widened. He did not know there were children. He was not told that and before he could do anything, one of the shadowed blades came for the numb child and blood rained. Naruto felt the warm trickles covering his face and hair, blue eyes wide with shock. The jutsu faded and the night was silent. He stood up shakily, mask in his hand and made his way to one of the tents, the beige and gray fabric stained red from the blood. He shakily reached for the tent's fabric and pulled it away from the bodies.

Eyes of a woman holding two children stared back at him, black and wide, unseeing and pained. Beside the woman was man staring blankly at the sky, blood trickling down his mouth. Naruto felt his heart quicken as he moved to another tent and found another family and then another and then another. Shocked and trembling, his mind switched off as his subconscious took over, doing the routine of a hunter - analyze, kill, get rid of evidence. An hour before the sun rose, the area was clean and the bodies taken care of. He headed for home, the smell of blood thick in his nose and the taste strong on his tongue.

Once inside the safety of his apartment, his subconscious switched off and he realized the horror of what he's just done. True, most of the men in camp were wanted nins with the death-signal on for all hunters, but they were family men. They had children.

"My first kill." Naruto said, staring at his shaking gloved hands. He covered his face with it, staining his pale cheeks with the crimson liquid. He began to shiver with cold, his lips trembling and eyes stinging. "And I'm covered with a dead child's blood!" He sobbed and gave out a loud cry as he rocked himself back and forth, the horror of his work finally sinking in and he fully understood that being a shinobi also meant being a murderer.

TBC

Ouch. That is Nasty! ^_____^