Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Because You Never Knew ❯ Part 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Hmmm … this chapter is weird. But I kinda' like it. I tried to be as real as possible, but well, try being the key word.

A big hug and thanks to b4k4-girl for beta-reading this! She makes everything readable. Mwah!

Enjoy!

BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNEW 8

Naruto woke up with his neck feeling numb. He found himself leaning against the hallway wall, clad in his hunter suit, mask beside him, still coated in dried and crusty blood, his cheeks stained with tear tracks and dirt from using an earth based jutsu to re-grow plants over the once bloody camp.

Naruto winced and sat up, stripping off his clothes quickly and tossing them into his washing machine. His hands were shaking again, and the tears were now falling once more. He filled the washing machine with water and poured the entire box of detergent powder into the spinning mass of clothes and stood there, watching the water turn red, naked as the day he was born.

His stomach began to act up and he rushed for the bathroom and began to vomit the contents of his stomach. He was at it for at least twenty minutes until he had nothing to heave out but stomach acid. His faced was flushed red and he reeked of dirt and blood. He turned the hot shower on and climbed into the tub, and knelt under the hot spray. The water that dripped off him turned pink and he felt sick once again. He gagged and coughed out nothing but saliva. With shaking fingers, he reached out for the bar of soap and began to scrub at his body furiously along with his scalp and face. The water was burning him but he couldn't care less. He didn't want to smell the child's blood on him.

"Get off me!" He hissed, scrubbing. "Get off me! Get off me!" He shrieked desperately until he couldn't take it. He trembled and cried again. He refused to accept that a young child died in his hands and not just one, but more than a dozen.

He reached for the tap blindly and turned the cold shower on. And remained kneeling under the spray, cowering from the world. He didn't know how long he remained like that, but he knew that he was late for work. And pretty soon, Tsunade would worry about the mission and his state and most probably send Jiraiya to check up on him, or maybe even come down herself.

He reached up for the tap and turned the hot water on and cold tap off. His skin that was tinged blue from the cold then began to glow pink from the heat. Naruto subconsciously heard his front door open and close, and footsteps come down his hallway.

"Naruto?" His subconscious whispered the name Iruka. The bathroom door swung open and the shower curtain was pushed aside roughly. "Oh god!" Iruka gasped and reached for the tap, shutting it off. "Naruto! Oi, Naruto!" He yelled, standing up and grabbing towels from the closet and tossing it around Naruto's trembling frame. With hidden strength, Iruka managed to lift Naruto out of the tub and carried him to the bedroom.

Naruto stared up at him, his vision swimming. Iruka's concerned face was looming over him. "Cold." He whispered and then his eyes drifted shut.

XXX

Iruka began to panic. Naruto was trembling from the cold, yet his body was burning hot. "You fool!" He hissed, and tossed a robe over his body, tying the belt in a simple double knot before pulling the yellow blanket over him. "Which idiot would give himself a fever other than you is a mystery."

Once he had Naruto covered and tucked into bed, he rushed back to the academy to excuse himself from his duties. He had come by Naruto's place before classes started to drop off some breakfast he made. He did not expect to find bloodstains on the hallway wall and him in the bathtub hiding from the world. Once at the academy, he found someone to do substitute for him and then darted off to find Tsunade.

He reached Tsunade's office and thankfully found it empty from other people. "Hokage-sama!" he gasped out, panting.

"Iruka-sensei?" Tsunade looked up blinking at the sight of a half wet and panting respectable teacher.

"N-Naruto is s-sick!" He managed to choke out.

"What?" Tsunade asked, standing up. "W-What happened? Is he hurt in anyway? Wounds or cuts?"

"No, he's just sick. His burning up badly. But I can tell that anyone with that temperature is - is -Hokage-sama! He - He's - I - I -" Iruka didn't know what to say. He was desperate. "Help him, please!" He begged.

"Come with me." She said and strode out the door. She instructed her office guards to find Jiraiya and tell him to come to Naruto's apartment. When they both reached Naruto's apartment, Naruto was breathing was rapid and he was soaked in sweat. Tsunade touched his forehead and gave out a loud curse. "How did you find him?"

"He was in the shower, and the hot tap was on." Iruka answered, looking at Naruto with worry. Naruto's eyes suddenly snapped wide open and he bucked. He twisted and fell of the bed. "Naruto!" Iruka gasped, and knelt before him, but Naruto was already running for the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, he knelt before the toilet seat and began to vomit his liquids out. Iruka pushed his hair back from his face and rubbed his back as Naruto gagged violently.

Tsunade couldn't comprehend why Naruto was suddenly so sick. His stomach was already empty and he was still vomiting. For now, there was nothing she could do to help Naruto. He needed to get rid of whatever nausea he had first before she could try any chakra healing. But then there was nothing to heal physically. Him vomiting was, from her point of view, something that was related mentally. If there was any physical assault, the Kyuubi's chakra always took care of it in a few hours or sometimes even minutes. Naruto gagged violently once more and continued to heave out liquids from his mouth. Iruka was silent but had a very worried expression on his face. It was then that Tsunade saw the bloody stains on the hallway wall and then she began to get a few ideas on why Naruto was the way he was.

Several minutes later, Naruto was relying on Iruka's hold on him, otherwise his head would have fallen into the toilet. He was shaking and breathing heavily. Minutes passed and there was no more gagging. Iruka helped him up and guided him to the bed, just as Jiraiya entered the front door. Tsunade motioned for him to be quiet as she mixed some medicine into a glass of water and helped Naruto drink it by lifting up his head. Soon, Naruto was deep asleep, but still breathing heavily from his fever.

Iruka began to clear up while Tsunade headed for the living room to speak with Jiraiya. "Is he sick?" Jiraiya asked.

"Nothing caused by any outside factor, except perhaps the extremely long shower." Tsunade said. "It's more mental than physical." She added, and found Naruto's gear soaking in soapy water in his washing machine in the laundry room.

"It must have been the mission then." Jiraiya said, a thoughtful look on his face. "He must have seen something that he can't accept."

Tsunade then understood. "Must have been the targets. It was a light mission." She then threw Jiraiya a dirty look. "You did tell him that hunters are literally brutal assassins didn't you?"

"Of course I did!" Jiraiya hissed. Tsunade frowned. "He knew it was. But there are things that just don't sink in until you've finally done it or seen it." Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at Tsunade. "You were not expecting this weren't you?"

"No. I wasn't." Tsunade said and approached Naruto's room. She did a few seals and held her hand above his chest, the light glow of chakra surrounding Naruto. Tsunade closed her eyes and focused on healing the young man until minutes later, Naruto was lying peacefully asleep, fever gone. Iruka was watching with awe as Tsunade healed Naruto. "Leave him for a while, Iruka. I suggest you get some rest yourself." Tsunade knew that Iruka was running around the house clearing up everything. "I will stay with him for now. Come back tonight to keep him company."

As much as Iruka didn't want to leave Naruto, he couldn't defy the words of the Hokage. "Yes, Hokage-sama." With a light dip of his head as a bow, he left Naruto's apartment.

XXX

Two or maybe three hours later, Naruto woke up to the setting sun, the orange glow making his room look like a hearth was glowing somewhere in the room. He was not feeling cold, but warm and clean. His throat was itchy and his stomach was hurting. An explosion of red flashed before his eyelids and he quickly shut his eyes turning his head away.

"What did you see?"

Naruto sat up, placing his hands on his face. "I didn't know, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya nodded. "Of course. It was your first mission." Tsunade was in the kitchen preparing some tea. Jiraiya saw how pale and sickly looking Naruto was. "What did you see?"

Naruto stared at his blanket-covered legs. "Blood. It was a simple mission. To kill off notorious bandits wanted by the village. But -"

Jiraiya watched Naruto's lower lip tremble. Naruto stared at his open palms, imagining it was dripping with red liquid. "But what?" Jiraiya asked.

"But they had children." Naruto whispered. "I - I killed young ones. Maybe eight or seven year olds. They don't even know what hit them."

"What jutsu?" Jiraiya asked.

"Moonlight shadow." Naruto whispered and brought his hands to his face. "I killed children. And women. They were family!"

Jiraiya cast his glance on the ground. He had warned Naruto and also opposed his choice in becoming a Hunter, simply because he feared something like this would happen. Naruto was way too kind to accept such things, but it was his decision and anyone who knew Naruto knew that his mind could not be changed once he had set his sights on something. No amount of convincing or warning that Jiraiya made changed Naruto's mind.

"It's the job of a Hunter." Jiraiya said. "You chose this, you deal with it." Tears leaked out of Naruto's eyes. "There are no words or actions that I can do that may bring you comfort. They are dead. That was your assignment. This is the life of a shinobi."

"What would my father have said?" Naruto asked. "Seeing his son like this? Killing a whole group mercilessly with a mass-destructive jutsu that he developed? He'd be disgusted."

"He would have understood." Jiraiya snapped. "Don't make assumptions, Naruto, because everyone, all Hokages, from the first up till fifth, are killers too. Being a ninja means being a killer. Your father knew that, and for the safety and security of the village, he stained his own hands with blood. You are not the only one to go through such a thing."

"It's always for the village isn't it?" Naruto asked, gritting his teeth.

"It's always for the village." Jiraiya said, and placed a hand over Naruto's clenched fists. "But your father saw something in this village worth protecting."

"What?" Naruto asked bitterly. "What did he see, because I swear I don't see it!"

Jiraiya stood up and headed for the door. "He saw your mother carrying you in her womb."

TBC

Okay, before anyone even says anything about Naruto being a total baby, well, that's the whole point. And, to quote my beta-reader (mwah! Glomps b4k4-girl), here is what she said.

I like the fact that Jiraiya wasn't trying to be particularly sympathetic. Shows that he acknowledges that Naruto has made his Hunter's bed, now he's gotta lie in it.

And THAT is the whole point. After all, he did warn him didn't he? Makes us squeeling fangirl's want to cuddle poor Naruto-kun! Wah!

Toodles!