Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Rebirth ❯ Awashed with Memories ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer- I don't own any of the Naruto © ™ characters. I do own all other original Characters.

 

A/N: I'm sorry to say that this chapter will contain many different flashbacks from multiple people. Although it maybe straining to read I assure you that they are necessary to further the story line and do a-bit of other things that need to be started early. Thank you for continuing to read this fic. Don't forget to Read & Review, as it is the only way for me to fix things you don't like or keep doing the things you do...and because it makes me feel happy inside…. Ja Ne.

 

 

Things to know…

* = See Authors notes at end of chapter

Bold = Kyubbified-Naruto speech

Bold Italics = Kyubbi speech

Italics = Thoughts/ flashbacks

() = Technique translation

~ Flashback sequence ~ = flashback

POV = P.oint O.f V.iew

 

 

Chapter 2:

Awashed with Memories

 

 

They all sat in the sterile, white room and waited for any news of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy that had been rushed into the waiting arms of Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage and the greatest medical-nin in the world. For each person in the room, the situation represented itself to them in different ways. To those closest to Naruto like Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke, they felt a great weight of grief and frustration flattening them against their seats. The other jounins and Rookie Nine felt a lesser amount of this. Each one prayed silently for their friend to make it back to them.

Sakura POV…

 

Sakura, who was trying to put the day's events into place, couldn't figure out why Naruto would go to such lengths for her, especially after she had been so mean to him.

 

~ Flashback ~

“Hey, Sasuke! Want to go out to lunch with me?”, she had asked excitedly, although she already knew the answer.

“No. I have to train.”, he replied, always in the same manner. Pouting slightly, she watched as he walked away and was turning away, when Naruto appeared in front of her and said “I'll go out to lunch with you Sakura-chan.”, he exclaimed loudly. Raising up her fist, she brought it down hard on his head and said, “Who would ever do anything with you?”, before walking away without another thought about what she had just said. This same scene had happened time after time and soon became something of a routine to her; he would ask and she would hit him and tell him off and then walk away.

~ End Flashback ~

 

She had never stopped to wonder about how he felt about what she did to him, or even what it might actually be like to do something with him. Sobbing quietly, she vowed to be nicer to him, not matter how hard it would be. Shifting her attention, she thought about the reason that this night had even come about. Uchiha Sasuke, surrounded by a squad of ANBU, sat in a corner and seemed to stare off into nothingness. She let her gaze rove of his body as she had used to do so long ago. As she looked, she realized that he had lost the…spark… that had drawn her to him. He seemed so lifeless, with his hunched shoulders and his knees drawn up against his chest. Turning her head, she searched for her sensei and gasped in surprise at the sight of him without his face almost completely covered by a mask. She looked upon his face fully now and wondered why he had ever covered it up. His face was not extraordinarily handsome, nor was it ugly and disfigured by scars. In fact the single scar that ran vertical down his left eye only seemed to enhance his rugged appearance. The one thing that she had always wondered was that if he had control over his left eye; what color would it be? Now she saw that they match flawlessly in every aspect. Seeing him looking at her, she gave a small smile and gave a discreet point to his face. Smirking in that way that she had always imagined him to, he nodded and returned his steady gaze to the door that lead to the infirmary.

 

Sasuke POV (same time as Sakura's own musings)…

 

He sat quietly, traumatized by the fact that he had probably just killed his teammate, rival, and probably his best friend. He looked out from cold, unseeing eyes and gazed over the assembled people that had gathered and waited anxiously for any news of their friend. Feeling the twitch of that sixth sense that told you that you were being watched, he turned his head and saw Sakura gazing at him. He quickly turned away, not wanting to see the blame that was surely to be there.

 

As he sat, he thought back on his life, and the reason that he had almost killed his friend.

 

~ Flashback ~

He walked into the main building of his clans' housing area and almost puked at the sight that glared back at him. He saw members of his family lying in a pool of their blood with faces set in mixed expression of utter surprise and pain. As he moved down toward his parents' room, he saw more bodies each with the same expression on their face, and somehow he knew that he would like what he saw in his parents rooms.

 

Noticing a shadow through the shoji panels, he threw them wide and revealed the horrible creature that had done this to his family. Uchiha Itachi, stood in the center of the room, framed by moonlight. He turned to see his little brother Sasuke standing in the doorway staring at his bloodstained hands. “I had to do it, Sasuke.”, he said in a calm, neutral voice before turning and taking past the child and leaving the village forever.

~ End Flashback ~

 

`I vowed that I would destroy me brother no matter the cost', he thought to himself, his face unconsciously betraying his emotions for all to see. `Now I know just how foolish I was when I uttered those despicable words and sealed my own fate.', he continued to berate himself over everything he could think of that he had ever done wrong. He was so stupid in his own grief and self-pity that he failed to notice the curse seal that adorned his left shoulder was slowly fading from his skin, although if you looked close enough, you would see that it had only faded and not disappeared.

 

Slowly raising his eyes, he looked out upon the gathered people and knew some of them surely hated him, only Kakashi seemed to acknowledge his existence. Swiveling his onyx-black eyes around, he gazed out at Sakura and saw that she too was lost in her own thoughts. Looking up further, he looked at the backs of his ANBU guards and wondered how many of them wanted to see him dead rather then having to guard him. Leaning back in the chair, he closed his eyes and let his mind drift where it wanted, something that he had not done for a very long time.

Kakashi POV (same time as the other's musings)…

 

Kakashi thought about the special gift that Naruto had bestowed upon him, and for the very life of him, the great Copy-Nin couldn't find a reason for Naruto to do that for him. For as long as he had known that he was going to teach the boy, he had almost completely ignored the boy, expect for when they were in front of other people. The more he thought about it, he realized that he had never actually done anything specifically for the boy. He thought about the day that he was told who his team would consist of. He hadn't cared one way or the other for Sakura, and when he had heard that he was to teach on of the last Uchiha, he had taken it as a chance to repay old debts. But when he heard Saratobi say that he would be teaching Uzumaki Naruto, he had practically yelled out `WHAT?!??!?' He had asked for a reason why he should teach the one that had killed his sensei, why he should have to teach the Kyubbi?

 

To those words, Saratobi had said, “Kakashi, are you one to believe that HE is the Kyubbi? You know as well as I that if anything he is the exact opposite to anything that the Kyubbi represents. Your teacher sealed the demon away into that poor boy without his say in the matter. He should be considered a hero for what he does every day for us. If keeping the beast at bay is something that is to be considered a monstrous, then I think that we deserved everything that the demon did to us.”

 

Bowing, he turned and left the office and returned to his apartment. He had sat and meditated on whether or not to even show up to accept his team. After almost three hours of debating with himself, he got up and headed up to the school to retrieve his team. If not for the presence of Sasuke on the team, he probably wouldn't have shown up at all. At the time, he had no idea the abilities each of his students would possess. Even during the wave country mission, his first thought at the appearance of Kyubbi's chakra was that the monster was returning to his true ways. He had been amazed at the fact that Naruto had controlled the demon's chakra and even used it in a fight, that only made him even more wary to what Naruto was capable of. After that mission the Chunnin exams had started and again, he had done nothing to help Naruto prepare for the fights. He had dumped the boy off on Ebisu, and although he was a Jounin, he was not very adept at anything save babysitting. He had been surprised by the fact that the boy had been able impress the great Frog Sannin, Jiraiya. What had surprised him the most was the events that had happened this very night. Naruto had shown that not only was he not the demon that almost everyone thought him to be, but he was also so self-sacrificing, no matter what the villagers had done to him. He was constantly doing his best; for the village, his friends and loved ones, and himself.

 

Now with the time to reflect on everything that had happened during his time with Team 7, Kakashi was startled, to put it bluntly, to see just how truly blind he had been, even with his famed Sharingan eye. Turning his now normal and uncovered eyes out to look over the waiting room, he wondered just how much the golden-haired youth had changed them all. He wondered just how much the loud-mouthed, brat had done for each of them. Looking to his left, he saw his other students and knew that they were doing exactly what he was; remembering the good and bad times and seeing as if for the first time just what they had missed because of their short-sightedness.

 

`I promise Naruto, from now tell I die, I won't ever forget about you, but if you die now, just when we all realize just how much you mean to us all, then I won't ever forgive you. ', he promised silently, small tears shimmering in his eyes, as he repeatedly renewed his prayer to Kami to not take Naruto's life.

Hinata POV…

 

For as long as she could remember, she had liked Uzumaki Naruto. She knew that he didn't have the dashing good looks that some people looked for, or the brainpower of Shikamaru, but what he did have was love for his friends and a determination that seemed to melt all the obstacles in his path of life.

 

She admired his ability to make everyone feel as if they could do anything, to make even the most trivial thing like eating together a time to remember. She wished that she could be more like him; to be stronger, be someone that everyone could depend on to finish what he started and still have time to truly care about what happened to his friends. The one thing that she truly wished was for him to see her as she sees him. For him to love her like he loved Sakura, but she knew that he wouldn't. One of her fondest memories of him was when he promised to avenge her on her cousin Neji.

 

~ Flashback ~

 

It was during the Chunnin exams, preliminary round, when she and her cousin had been called on to fight each other in a one-on-one. To say the least, she was beaten badly and nearly killed by her destiny obsessed cousin. At seeing her lying in a small pool of her own blood, unconscious, Naruto had made a blood promise to make Neji pay for what he had done to her. When she had learned of his promise, she had nearly cried for joy that he had done such a thing for her.

 

Later in the exams, Neji certainly did pay for his mistake and barely escaped with his life, after being surprised by the fact that Naruto had survived having all his tenketsu points closed by his Jyukken blows. She had realized then that he would do anything to make his precious people happy, even if it meant dying in the process.

 

~ End Flashback ~

 

As she sat, absorbed in her own thoughts, she failed to notice the expressions of the other people around her, and the looks of understanding and/or guilt that ran across them. Unwittingly following Kakashi's example, she offered up a prayer to Kami, that if he was to grant anything she asked let it be that Naruto live to see another day.

Normal POV…

 

Another hour had passed as the gathered people thought their own private thoughts, as the gazed at the door leading to the surgery room. Not a single person took their eyes off the door so see who the newcomer was that had just walked into the room.

 

Jiraiya, the great Frog Hermit and one of the Legendary Sannin, stood by the doors and looked about the room and could almost feel the raw emotions that washed out of the people. He looked toward the door that seemed to have hypnotized the whole room before sitting in one of the empty chairs by the door. He had come not only because Tsunade had asked him to come, but also to see the bright-eyed boy that had captured his attention when he had set a pack of pissed off women to chase him away from his latest `research project'. When he had recovered sufficiently from his wounds and returned to the bathhouse to seek out the boy, he found him in the company of an incompetent fool. Sending Ebisu on his way, he took charge of Naruto's training for the one month that they were allowed for the main rounds of the Chunnin exams. It was during that time that he had found out just what had bothered him when he had first seen the boy. He was the spitting image of the great Yondaime, the fourth Hokage, and the sealer of Kyubbi No Kitsune, the Nine-tailed fox demon. Pushing those thoughts aside, he decided that he had better do what he had come to do before Tsunade made him into a flesh-colored nail.

 

Getting up and moving to the surgery doors, he heard a collective intake of breath from the rooms' occupants. Resisting the urge to turn around and do something to ease their tension, he pushed the doors opened and quickly closed them behind him, closing off all view of the operation that was happening inside.

Inside the Surgery room…

 

The glaring lights, blasted down on the metal table over which a extremely tired blonde-haired woman worked, surrounded by equally harried looking assistance's busied themselves. Striding to an empty spot at Tsunade's back, he laid a hand gently on her shoulder, and started to slowly trickle some his chakra into her. Throwing quick, wordless thanks to him over her shoulder, she redoubled her efforts and finally was able to close a massive wound that had covered Naruto's lower abdomen. Sighing in relief, she motioned for the nurses to do their job and moved away from the table and stripping off her gloves. Gesturing for Jiraiya to accompany her, she moved off to a quieter corner of the room and started to explain why she had called him here.

 

“Jiraiya, you know who this boy is, yes?”, she asked making sure that he did indeed recognize the boy. Receiving his affirmative, she took a breath to steady her nerves and said, “I called you here not just to lend my your chakra, which I appreciate greatly by the way, I summoned you so that you can look at the seal. I have seen what it's supposed to look like and I can tell you now that I don't look like it should, in fact if my eyes aren't deceiving me, then its still changing. I don't know how this is possible, but it is happening and I thought that you should take a look at it before something untoward happens.”, she explained carefully, trying to keep the fatigue that she was obviously feeling from showing on her face. Nodding his white-haired head, Jiraiya's entire demeanor changed in an instant, going from the laid back person, to the greatest seal master yet lived. Moving over to the boy and gently moving the nurses away from the stomach area, he moved the sheet that covered that portion of the body and examined the seal that he had helped research.

 

The first thing he noticed was that the seal that he had before him looked nothing like it should. In fact, it seemed to be missing several very important parts. Looking over to Tsunade, he saw her pop a soldier pill into her mouth and turn toward the upper body where most of the nurses were already clustered. Following her example, he set about trying to figure out what was happening to the seal, or what was changing the seal.

Inside Naruto's mind…

 

Naruto was still dumbfounded at the sight that he had beheld before he had used up all the energy he had left and fainted. The sight of the world in such a colorful spectrum would have brought tears to his eyes, if he had the energy. All the while that the Hokage and the others were working on him, his single most thought had not been for his own health or current situation, but of the boy that he had just fought and how they were treating him. He hoped that they had taken his request seriously for once, he really didn't think that Sasuke was responsible for his actions, in fact he knew that for a what it was…a fact. Thinking back to what the now snow white fox had said, he asked, “Kyubbi, what do you think will happen now that our chakras have mixed, I mean if we survive that is.”

 

Smirking at the boy's obvious attempt to not betray his feelings, Kyubbi said quite plainly, “I don't know…”, without any sarcasm or inflections in his voice. Seeing that the boy had accepted the answer, he returned to his study of this new chakra. For all the long centuries that he had been alive, he had never encountered such as this. It seemed to flow and move like regular chakra and yet how could it when it was made of two completely different ones. Shifting his attention to the boy's tenketsu, he examined them for and changes or oddities and discovered that some how they had become a sort of hybrid. They could regulate this new chakra, this combination of human and demon, and still function like normal. He was immensely curious as to see what side effects they mixture would have, if any, he just hoped that they survived to find out.

 

Having found out all that he wanted to know, for now, he put his efforts once again to trying to see what was happening to his kit's body, but for all of his knowledge and experience he couldn't figure out anything. Laying down to wait, he felt a slight tug where, if he had a body, his heart was and with a snarl, he was dragged to his feet and thrown against the bars of his prison.

 

Outside the bars, Naruto cried out in pain and withered on the ground clutching his stomach where the seal was on his real body. Forcing one of his eyes open, he looked over to his eternal inhabitant and saw a look in his eyes and would scare anything or anyone. Kyubbi's eyes were rolling around in their sockets and he was half way groaning and halfway laughing, the very sound would make anyone's blood run cold. Raising himself onto his side, Naruto called out to the fox with worry and concern lacing every letter in his words , “Kyubbi, are you all right? What's happening to us?”

 

Gasping with the exertion, Kyubbi managed to grunt out, “The seal…it's the seal. When our chakra fused the seal must have begun to disappear and your friends are trying to fix it to keep me from escaping…not that I would now that I have such a good kit.”, he added with as much pride as the pain would let him.

 

Naruto's face broke out into a smile at this point, a smile that very few people had ever seen. “I wish I had some way to tell them that it was alright.”, he said as a new surge of pain slammed into him. “Maybe we do…”, he said and with a great effort, he sent a giant surge of the new chakra barreling at Naruto's major tenketsus and as they were sent toward the wounded areas. Grinning with satisfaction, Kyubbi watched as his gamble paid off.

 

Outside Naruto's body in the surgery room…

 

Tsunade, Jiraiya and the nurses had all jumped back from the unconscious boy that was on the table in front of them. They saw a pearly white energy blaze up to ring the wounded areas and with almost no pause, the chakra began to close the wounds, just as Kyubbi's re demon chakra had done before. What Kyubbi didn't know was that when he had forced so much chakra passed the tenketsu he had also opened the Gate of Pain, and with that came the mental pain that Naruto had long been subconsciously been shutting up in there. With a howl of animal qualities, the blonde haired boy jerked up straight and dropped off the table before facing the rooms' occupants. Giving each a wild look in turn, the boy suddenly shot through doors that laid to the waiting room and into the confused faces of those sitting within.

 

Waiting Room (moments before)…

 

Each of the ninja had been total engrossed in their own thoughts, since their arrival in the room save the time when Jiraiya had gone into the surgical room. They were so lost in thought that they didn't hear the commotion that Naruto's sudden liveliness had caused and were only shocked out of their trance when the doors opened and a pink and orange flash flew out. Jerking their collective heads back to the doors, they all watched as the doors were once more violently thrown open and peered closer as Tsunade and Jiraiya followed by the nurses rushed out in hot pursuit of the runaway boy.

 

Kakashi jumped to his feet and gave Jiraiya a questioning look. “I'll explain but later, right now we need to get Naruto back.” Nodding his head, Kakashi motioned and the rest of the team rushed out with him, save for Sasuke, who was being restrained by the masked ANBU. Digging into a pouch Kakashi produced, for the second time that day, a summoning scroll. Repeating the same technique as he did last time, the others watched as a dog puffed into existence. “I need your help to find Naruto…again. He left quite fast.” Nodding his head, Pakun sniffed the air and headed off at a fast clip so not to lose the others as he was sure that Kakashi could keep up with him.

 

It took them the better part of an hour to reach a clearing where they heard heavy breathing clearly despite the foliage that blocked their senses. Fanning out in a line formation, they moved closer as quietly as they could but as with all times when supreme silence is needed, one of the ninja's cracked a tree branch beneath their sandal. With a lunge, the party popped out of the tree line and surrounded the harried looking boy. They watched as he spun around erratically as he searched for a way out. Not seeing any viable route of escape, the boy settled back onto his haunches and seemed to calm down.

 

Sakura stepped forward toward the boy, determined to keep her vow and not repeat her past mistakes. They all watched as Naruto swung around to keep her in front of him. What happened next, they never expected to happen…at least not from him. He leapt forward with a snarl and grabbed Sakura by the neck, and with a heave pinned to the ground with the same motion. Scared and worried, Sakura gasped out around his throttling grip, “Naruto calm down. We don't want to hurt you.”

 

Cocking his head to the side, he looked at her quizzically, but all the while he kept the crushing pressure on her windpipe. He might have let her go after a time, but just as he was about to Jiraiya dived for him and forced him to release his hold and jump out the way. Snarling , Naruto dived through the hole in the ring and raced off faster then they thought possible. Leaping after the fleeing boy, they raced off in the direction that he was headed, but stopped when Pakun dropped to the forest floor and started frantically sniffing the air, searching for something. Letting his head hang down and putting his tail between his legs, Pakun looked up to Kakashi and slowly shook his head. Keeping his face expressionless, he nodded and watched the summon puff out. Turning to the group, he saw the same expression flash across each of their faces. Slowly he turned and started heading back to the village and knew that the others would follow on their own accord.

 

 

Naruto's Mindscape…

 

Kyubbi was yelling at the blonde that was laying in front of his cage. He was yelling to try to get the boy to stop and listen and let the others take him back the village, but for the life of him, he couldn't get the boy to even look at him. Sitting down, he looked at the boy that he had come to think of as a son and silently put a soft white tail down on him, trying to give the boy as much comfort as he could. Closing his eyes, Kyubbi used his experience of dealing with Naruto's body to see what Naruto saw and for the first time in his life, Kyubbi felt pity. He didn't pity himself, he pitied the small frightened and lonely boy that lay before him. Looking skyward, Kyubbi offered a silent prayer to Kami, “Please Oh Kami, let this boy live and Let go. He never should have experienced these things. This was my fault. I will do anything, but do not punish this poor child anymore.

 

In Konoha…

 

Each of the Rookie nine and their teachers had returned to the village and went home. They all lay awake and thought about the events that had happened this day. If there was one unifying thought that each thought it was `I'm sorry, Naruto. Please come back'. With that said, each prayed and fell into an uneasy slumber. Each remembering the good and bad times that they had with there Favorite, Knuckle-headed Ninja, Uzumaki Naruto.

 

A/N: Well another chapter done! Sorry for the VERY long wait…I was grounded HEHEHE. Anyways, Thanks for reading and I hope you wil continue to do so and enjoy my writing, again Thank You. Please Read and Review as this is the only way for me to gauge my progress with my readers and for my to fix things, and just because I like to see the little review notices in my email. :) Ja Ne!