Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Breaking Point ❯ New Opportunities ( Chapter 6 )

Breaking Point

 

I'm on a roll, what can I say? And once again, we are getting a look into the past. So, have fun reading!

 

Disclaimer: My brothers keep telling me that I don't own Naruto, so it must be true.

 

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Chapter Six: New Opportunities

 

“So…what do you plan on doing?”

 

“Huh?” Startled Naruto jerked his head up to look at the man that had practically raised him.

 

“What do you plan on doing about Neji?” Crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall, the silver haired jounin looked at Naruto pointedly. “He's already managed to figure most of it out by himself. You can't let everyone think that you're an idiot for the rest of your life, Naru.”

 

Moving his body into an upright position on the bed, Naruto winced as his body protested against the movement. Turning his gaze down onto his hands, his cerulean eyes darkened as he remembered the events that led to his injuries.

 

Sighing as he looked at the small blonde's slumping shoulders, he felt a fresh surge of guilt. His visible eye hardened, as he became lost in memories as well. He could still recall the broken look on Naruto's face when he had found him. He had thought his heart would stop when he found the blonde in a pool of his own blood. Terror had been a constant companion for him on the way back to Konoha. If Tsunade-sama hadn't already been at the hospital helping the others, he might have lost the boy.

 

Things definitely shouldn't have turned out the way that they did. When he first realized that Naruto was opening up to someone other than himself or Iruka, he was genuinely happy. As more time passed though, he began to grow concerned. He had struggled desperately to keep both boys from becoming lost and in the end he had only managed to save Naru, and even that was pure luck. He was drawn from his depressing thoughts by a small voice.

 

“Aniki?”

 

Surprised at hearing Naru call him that again, Kakashi raised his eyes to meet the uncertain blue gaze of his charge. His eye softened as his thoughts were running around in circles at hearing that name from the blonde once more. When he'd been assigned as the sensei for Team 7, Naru had stopped calling him Aniki and had begun to call him sensei.

 

“You should give Neji a chance, Naru. He's already proven that he isn't like Sasuke.”

 

Watching as those expressive blue eyes clouded once more at the mention of Sasuke, he cursed the Uchiha in every language that he knew. He'd been afraid that Sasuke was behind Naru's reluctance to accept someone else into his life. In a swift, fluid motion, Kakashi had moved from the wall and opened the door. Stepping out into the hallway, he glanced at the quiet boy sitting in the bed, before he made his way out of the hospital.

 

Left alone in his hospital room again, Naruto kept repeating Kakashi's words in his mind. He already knew that Neji wasn't like Sasuke. Neji had proven that after the Chunnin exam. Unlike Sasuke, Neji had been able to let go of the hate that he'd been holding onto for so long. And that was the main problem. Sasuke decision had hurt him more than he wanted to admit. Sasuke had been the first real friend he'd had that was his age.

 

His small frame began to shake as he finally let go of the emotions that he'd tried so hard to ignore. As he sobbed, his mind was inundated with various images of all the times that he'd spent with Sasuke. When they had first met each other, neither could have predicted that they would eventually end up accepting each as friends. At first he had thought that Sasuke was nothing more than a stuck up, spoiled brat. But like all things in life, his opinion changed and matured. He began to realize that beneath Sasuke's indifferent façade, there was an actual living breathing human being. Ultimately, they had ended up as the best of friends.

 

But everything changed when Orochimaru and that stupid curse seal came into the picture. The Uchiha began to distance himself from the blonde. Their once playful spars and arguments had taken on a darker quality; it seemed as though Sasuke's façade was becoming a horrible reality. When he heard the news that Sasuke had left the village, he'd wanted nothing more than to just wake up. After all, Sasuke would never betray them…betray him…so undoubtedly it was just a really bad nightmare.

 

It wasn't a nightmare. It was all real. Still he managed to hold onto a faint tendril of hope that it was all just a horrible misunderstanding. He used this tendril to hold up the fragile walls of what was left of his world. His world came crashing down around him however, when he had to fight for his best friend…his brother…his twin.

 

As they fought each other, their eyes spoke volumes more than the heated words they exchanged. It seemed that even in this, the bond that they had forged was still as strong as it was before. As the time came for the final blows to be delivered, Naruto had made the mistake of looking into Sasuke's eyes again. Or perhaps it was just fate and not just some idle mistake.

 

Whatever it was…it showed him all that he needed to make his final decision. Everything happened so abruptly. He only had time enough to change his aim. As his Rasengan hit the symbol of the Leaf Village, he'd smiled fleetingly before pain overwhelmed his senses. In the instant before Sasuke's hand entered his chest, he'd seen a spark of emotion within those obsidian depths. It was that sight, more than any other that had shown him, the overwhelming rightness of his choice.

 

As his body continued to shake from the force of his crying, Naruto recalled that faint emotion he'd seen. Regret. The faint tendril that had clung to his heart tenaciously slowly began to take form once more. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he sniffled as his eyes took on a renewed look of life in them. Aniki was right, Neji wasn't Sasuke. A bittersweet smile crossed his face as he came to a decision.

 

Before he would leave with Ero-Sennin, he would try to open his heart to others. Neji could and never would be Sasuke. However, Neji had already shown that he could be the support that Naruto so desperately needed. And when the time came for him to leave, he could leave knowing that he had at least one friend waiting for him to return. Hopefully.

 

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There, I hope that you guys like this chapter. I honestly don't know where this all came from, but now that I've written it, I kinda like it. Also, keep in mind that all unanswered questions that this raises will eventually be answered.