Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Mended Hearts ❯ Repercussions ( Chapter 12 )

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I wish I did, but I don't.

 

Summary: AU Naruto hides many secrets from Konohagakure no Sato. As time continues, Naruto's precious people learn the hard way that many secrets are best left untouched, and that Naruto is not at all what they believed.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Chapter 12: Repercussions~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

The Hunter stared silently at the report on his desk, rolled up and sealed.

 

The question he ad always asked himself had always been, “If given the chance, could I?” and if the answer was “Yes, I could,” then the second question would be, “If I could, then would I?”

 

He had always answered the question with either, “Yes I could,” or “I don't know.”

 

The events of the night before now posed a different question, “What do I do now?”

 

To his own regret, his logical side's answer was, “Nothing. Its better this way,” while his more emotional side said, “Chase him! Let him know that you care! Let him know that you feel the same!”

 

He sighed and laid his head down on his desk. The cool smoothness of the glass covering the mahogany wood comforted him, even as he felt that his soul was being torn apart in different directions.

 

Naruto closed his eyes.

 

Why was it, when it mattered most, he actually followed the rules instead of breaking them the way he was prone to? He had used the Tenshi Fuuin, which he had promised that he would never use unless the Kyuubi escaped, and he had performed his father's prized Jibaku Mandara no Jutsu without holding the necessary seal through out the entire time in which the jutsu had been active, something that was impossible. So why was it that he could do things that were supposed to be impossible, but he could not do something that was possible, and allow himself to love Kakashi?

 

The answer to him was simple.

 

Duty.

 

He prized his duty to Konoha and was allowing it to rule his life.

 

Once, as a child, he had said, “Screw duty! If love is offered to me, I would grab the opportunity with both hands and never let go!”

 

And now he was pushing it away with both his hands and feet while clinging desperately to it with all ten of his fingers and toes. He snorted.

 

“I'm such a hypocrite…”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

The next day dawned bright and early, and Kakashi arrived at the memorial stone to find the most surprising visitor. Standing in the open before the dark stone in black slacks and long-sleeved black jacket with a mandarin collar trimmed in red, was Naruto. The silver haired jounin had no doubt that the Hunter had sensed him long ago, and stepped forward so he stood beside the Hunter.

 

“You're the last person I ever expected to see out here,” Kakashi commented lightly.

 

“Even Hunters have friends to remember,” Naruto said, his eyes fixed on the stone. “And even Hunters have days off.”

 

“It's also rare to see a Hunter out in the open.”

 

“You see off duty Hunters almost everyday,” Naruto retorted, “You just don't recognize us without the uniform.”

 

“Naruto… Why are you running?”

 

Cool cerulean eyes locked with a single dark eye. “Excuse me?”

 

“Why are you running from us?” Kakashi said, “Aren't we your friends?”

 

“A Hunter only has one friend, himself,” Naruto said, turning back toward the memorial stone. “A Hunter isn't allowed to love anyone other than themselves and the village as a whole.”

 

“Are trying to convince me or yourself?”

 

Naruto's shoulders stiffened. “I have no idea what you're talking about.”

 

“We miss you Naruto,” Kakashi said, a hint of longing in his voice, “All of your friends miss you, are you even aware of the fact that they have started hanging around Ichiraku's Ramen in hopes that they might run into you? They know you're in Konoha, and they've been doing everything in their power to find you! Even Sasuke and Neji are using their positions in the ANBU to try to locate you! Your friends miss you. I miss you.”

 

“Enough,” Naruto said quietly, “I don't want to hear any more…”

 

“They know that Iruka, Shizune and Tsunade see you most often, and they constantly go to them asking for you. Naruto, do you even realize how worried Ino, Hinata, Tenten and Sakura are? Naruto—“

 

“SHUT UP!” Naruto roared, spinning around, glaring at his former sensei.

 

In his anger, he did not notice Sasuke and Sakura pause at the edge of the clearing, their eyes wide.

 

“I don't want to hear it! Team 7 was a mission, nothing more! I am a Hunter, my duty is to the village, anything I felt for them, anything I felt for you was all just an act! I did my duty! I watched the village's precious Uchiha, I protected him, I brought him back when he defected, and I made certain that he could get through the Chunin Exams without Orochimaru catching him a second time. I fulfilled my duty to Team 7 and I completed my mission, there is nothing to tie me to Team 7 anymore.”

 

Kakashi's hand lashed out and Naruto's head jerked to the side, cerulean eyes widening in shock. Unnoticed at the edge of the clearing, Sasuke and Sakura stared in shock at their former sensei, watching the proceedings.

 

“Don't you dare lie to me!” Kakashi snarled, grabbing Naruto's shoulders and shaking him slightly. “Stop lying to the people around you, and stop lying to yourself!” His sole visible eye softened and one hand left the blonde's shoulder to ghost along one whiskered cheek. “Don't do this to yourself,” he whispered, “Even if you refuse to acknowledge what we could have, don't do the same to your friends. You mean the world to me, Naruto, and it kills me to see you like this. Please…”

 

“You say that,” Naruto said, “but you only see me as my father's son, just as the village sees only the Kyuubi. You don't see Naruto, but Kazuki, the Yondaime's son.”

 

“Are you trying to convince me that that's how I see you, or are you trying to convince yourself?” Kakashi snapped. “Stop lying to yourself! Naruto, I love you!”

 

“No…” Naruto pulled away.

 

In a lightning swift movement, Kakashi grabbed the blonde's wrist and pulled him into a firm, yet gentle embrace, clutching the struggling blonde to his body.

 

“Naruto,” he whispered into golden locks, “I love you.”

 

“Stop… Why are you doing this to me?” Naruto whispered.

 

“Because I love you…” Kakashi whispered. “Because I can't stand to see you destroy yourself this way… Because you're you, not the Kyuubi, and not just your father's son…”

 

“You can't love me, nobody can… I'm a monster… The Kyuubi child…”

 

“Now you're just making excuses,” Kakashi said.

 

“Release me at once,” Naruto hissed, switching tactics, releasing a portion of his chakra with killing intent.

 

“Not until you stop being obstinate,” Kakashi said simply.

 

“White Wolf, release me at once,” Naruto snapped.

 

“You're off duty, remember?”

 

“Dammit, Kakashi! Let me go!”

 

“No.”

 

“Kaka—Mmph!”

 

The Copy-nin had opted to counter the blonde's argument by pulling down his mask and sealing the blonde's lips with his own. Naruto's body tensed against his former teacher's and slowly, as the silver haired jounin gently ran his tongue over the blonde's lips, and his hands massaged the Hunter's neck in gentle, soothing circles, the blonde relaxed, grabbing fistfuls of Kakashi's jounin vest. Cerulean eyes slid shut as he opened his mouth, allowed Kakashi entry into the warm cavern, and their tongues danced, touching, teasing, and tasting.

 

In the distance, Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened in shock, and for Sasuke, the pieces of an old puzzle fell into place. Everything made sense, the looks that Kakashi had always given Naruto, his reaction every time the blonde's name came up, the way he acted around the Hunter, the Hunter's puzzle to him the day of his retrieval from the Sound.

 

Naruto was the Hunter Zeiguwa who brought me back… Naruto is the Hunter Zeiguwa, and Kakashi-sensei is in love with Zeiguwa! was the thought that drifted through the Uchiha's mind. Kakashi-sensei cared about Naruto as more than a student for the longest time, then, when we were captured by the Sound, I found out that he loves Zeiguwa, but Naruto and Zeiguwa is the same person…

 

The two ninja eventually surfaced for air, and Naruto laid his forehead against Kakashi's shoulder, holding himself up only with Kakashi's support. The silver haired jounin in turn loosened his hold on the blonde, that Naruto could pull away if he wished, though Kakashi highly doubted that that was truly the case.

 

“I'm sorry,” Naruto whispered.

 

A single dark eye glanced down into quiet cerulean orbs and curved slightly as the jounin gave the Hunter an affectionate smile.

 

“It's alright,” was Kakashi's only reply.

 

“You can let go of me now,” Naruto said wryly.

 

“I'd rather not give you the chance to escape from me again,” Kakashi said lightly.

 

“Sasuke and Sakura saw everything you know.”

 

Kakashi's shoulders stiffened and reached out with his senses, and his head snapped to the side, and the sole visible eye widened in shock to see the remainder of his former team standing at the edge of the training area. Swiftly, he pulled his mask back up and his eye curved as he smiled at the pink haired kunoichi and the Uchiha.

 

“Yo!” he waved a hand lightly, seeming for all the world as if he had not just participated in a very passionate kiss and was not holding onto his blonde, former student (who had never really been his student in the first place) in a protective gesture with his free arm.

 

Sasuke blinked slightly in confusion while Sakura giggled and stepped forward.

 

“Ohayo, Kakashi-sensei, Naruto,” she said, green eyes sparkling. “It's nice to see you again, Naruto.”

 

“Likewise, Sakura-san,” Naruto replied, absently pulling away from Kakashi.

 

The Copy-nin's eyes narrowed slightly as the blonde pulled free, but relaxed when he showed no signs of running away. Then again, the jounin thought, Naruto had already been seen and confronted; there really was no way the Hunter would be able to get away quickly.

 

“Where have you been?” the pink haired kunoichi was asking, “Everyone's been frantic about you, and Iruka-sensei and Tsunade-sensei refuse to say anything!”

 

Naruto's lips twitched. “I've been busy, and before you ask, it's classified.”

 

“Apparently, everything that you've done so far is classified, Dobe,” Sasuke interjected. “There wasn't time to thank you the last time we met.”

 

Naruto's eyes narrowed and cerulean met onyx eyes. Did he know?

 

The Uchiha's eyes told him everything. Sasuke knew. The ANBU and the Hunter stared at one another, and having seen the honesty in the Uchiha's eyes, Naruto relaxed and nodded.

 

“You're welcome.” The Hunter paused and added as an afterthought, “Bastard.”

 

Kakashi's eyes curved in a fond smile as he watched the interaction between the three. Perhaps everything would be alright after all…

 

Sasuke and Sakura had dragged a slightly protesting Naruto (who were followed by a highly amused Kakashi) to Ichiraku's where the not-so-rookie-anymore Rookie 9 and Team Gai were gathered. It was a joyful reunion between old friends and a somewhat reluctant Hunter which quickly deteriorated into an all out interrogation of Naruto's life up till then, including a blowing into the open of his identity as a Hunter-nin by a certain Uchiha by a simple not-so-simple question.

 

“I've been wondering,” Sasuke had said in between bites of ramen. “How exactly did you kill Orochimaru?”

 

“You killed WHO?!!!” Sakura had screeched, followed by a series of shocked and disbelieving exclamations, and Naruto found himself bombarded on all sides by questions and yells from his peers.

 

“With the Jibaku Mandara no Jutsu and the Tenshi Fuuin,” was the blonde's simple answer.

 

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. “In detail, if you please,” he said.

 

Naruto sighed and his voice became cool and impersonal as he said, “The Jibaku Mandara no Jutsu is a cage of chakra. How long the cage can be held is proportional to the amount of chakra and stamina a ninja possess, and to hold the cage requires concentration and the positioning of the hands in the rooster hand seal for the entire duration of the technique. The Tenshi Fuuin is a seal that seals a spirit within a vessel, and simultaneously temporarily seals the ability of the sealer to utilize chakra. The seal is performed in advance and the seal is stored on the sealer's shoulder blades in a tattoo of wings, and activated and directed by the sealer according to the proximity of a vessel carrying a foreign chakra and consciousness. The moment Tenshi Fuuin maskes contact with the vessel and consciousness being sealed, chains forged by Fate bind the spirit to the vessel. I made a Kage Bushin, which performed the Jibaku Mandara no Jutsu while I performed the Tenshi Fuuin. While Orochimaru was distracted by the fusing of the Chain of Fate to his vessel and his consciousness, his training was overridden by his instincts, and I took the opportunity to deprive him of his head.”

 

“That's it?” Kiba laughed, “I could have done that!”

 

Naruto cocked his head and said calmly, “It's because of that arrogance that you, out of all the ninja from our generation currently in this restaurant, are still a Chunin performing high C and low B class missions, while I am performing high A and S class missions for the Hokage.”

 

Sudden silence.

 

“You're performing A and S class missions?” Ino said weakly.

 

“But how?” Neji asked, “There are no records of an Uzumaki Naruto taking the jounin exams or entering the ANBU.”

 

Naruto sighed and stripped off his jacket, baring the Hunter insignia on his arm. Neji's eyes widened in shock.

 

“You…” a sudden smile crossed the Hyuuga's face. “That's why your records seem to have suddenly disappeared, and why the Hokage never says a word about you beyond “Naruto is fine,” or “He's on a mission”. It's because you became a Hunter-nin.”

 

Naruto nodded. “It had been decided by my father before he died in the Kyuubi attack. I was born and chosen to protect Konoha. I can fulfill that destiny as a Hunter-nin, and later in the future, as Hokage.”

 

He groaned when he felt his mark warm and set down his chopsticks. “There goes my day off,” he said tiredly, and vanished in a puff of smoke.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Zeiguwa stepped into the Hokage's office and flinched when the Godaime leveled a heated glare on him.

 

“You killed Orochimaru.”

 

It wasn't a statement.

 

Zeiguwa nodded.

 

“I told you to bring our shinobi home, not kill the Otokage!” the Godaime roared, slamming a fist onto the table, which miraculously, did not break.

 

“The only other option was to leave the White Wolf and his apprentice in captivity, and allow Oto to capture Kurohyou, Hagetake, and Tora, Hokage-sama. The code of a Hunter states that all Hunters must exhaust all options before abandoning a mission, which is only possible through death.”

 

“Don't quote your code of conduct at me! I know perfectly well what is required of a Hunter! What I do want to hear from you is why you killed the Otokage and his assistant who were merely bystanders?!”

 

“The Otokage and his assistant attacked us, and so they became enemies who stood in the way of completing the mission. Protocol demanded that they be put down for the sake of the mission.”

 

“You six were trespassing! They had every right to attack and defend their territory!”

 

“With all due respect, Hokage-sama,” Zeiguwa said calmly, “if we had allowed the Otokage and his assistant to live, they would have taken the opportunity to declare war on Konoha. A Hunter must not only complete their mission, but also take into consideration the safety of our village, and take measures to prevent any possible discrepancies that could lower our village's prestige.”

 

“You break and bend every rule possible to suit your needs, and here you do everything by the book,” Tsunade sighed, rubbing her temples. “You do realize that if there are any negative repercussions from your actions, you will be stripped of your position and returned to the rank of genin?”

 

“I am.”

 

“You are suspended from your position as Zeiguwa and take the position of Tokubetsu Jounin until further notice. You will take no missions above B rank, and you will substitute as necessary for jounin-sensei who are required for missions. Hand over your mask.”

 

Zeiguwa's shoulders stiffened and slowly, he pulled off the mask and laid it on the Hokage's desk and stepped back.

 

“Get out of my office, brat.”

 

“As you wish, Hokage-sama,” Naruto said, and vanished.

 

CSA Version 7 Mended Hearts What Are You Hiding?