Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered ❯ Judgement ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. The only thing I own is my computer, and you can't have that.  >:o

 

Once again I apologize ahead of time for my spelling errors.

 

 

Chapter 2: Judgment

 

Naruto walked into the Hokage's office without knocking. He never knocked when he went to go visit her. One day it was going to be his office, and who knocks when they enter their own office? Tsunade looked up from her disorganized pile of paperwork.

 

“Haven't you ever heard of knocking. What if I was meeting with someone important?”

 

“You would have locked the door. Besides when was the last time you met with anyone important?” Tsunade looked about read to throw a book at him, Naruto just gave her a devilish smile, `Works every time.' He knew he would never grow tired of pushing her buttons. “So did you call me to simply be graced by my presence or do you actually have a reason?”

 

“Shut the door and sit down.” Her tone was serious and Naruto knew now was not the time to crack any more jokes. He shut the door and sat down in the chair in front of her desk.

 

“Have you heard about Anko?” Naruto had heard rumors that she was free, but he didn't really understand what it meant.

 

“Not really.”

 

“Anko has a curse seal, well actually had a curse seal.”

 

“What do you mean had?”

 

“Orochimaru is gone.”

 

“What?! When? How?” Tsunade raised her hand silencing Naruto.

 

“He's dead, it happened a few days ago and we don't know who killed him. All we know is that Kabuto is in charge of the Hidden Sound now.”

 

“Do you think Kabuto did it?” Tsunade shook her head. Actually she had no idea who could have done it. She could only think of a handful of people powerful enough to kill him and she had already questioned the few who lived in the village. Naruto was also trying to figure out who could have killed Orochimaru when he suddenly looked up at Tsunade, “Wait, Anko doesn't have the curse seal anymore?”

 

“No, it disappeared. The seal died with him.”

 

“Does that mean that he….” He didn't finish his sentence, but she knew who he was talking about. Sasuke. He was more then likely free as well. Now that subject was on Sasuke it would be easier to tell him the real reason for calling Naruto. She never liked talking to Naruto about Sasuke. He would always get a look on his face that worried her. It had taken her a month to get Naruto to tell her the details of his fight with Sasuke. As he talked he was emotionless and cold. He wasn't Naruto when he talked about that fight. She heard from Kakashi that when they talked about Sasuke, it was usually good memories and Naruto wasn't emotionless during those particular talks. It was only when he was forced to relive that one fight he would change. Tsunade didn't like seeing him that way, but at the moment it couldn't be avoided.

 

“Naruto I would love to sit here and talk about him but that is not why I called you here.”

 

She grabbed a letter from her desk and handed it to Naruto. She knew whom the letter was from. Three years ago she had received a similar letter addresses to him. She hoped that this letter carried better news then the last one. Naruto stood up and took the letter. He knew whom the letter was from even before he looked at the writing. Only one person had ever sent him a letter. He put the letter in his pocket; he wanted to be alone when he read it.

 

“Thank you.” With that he turned and walked out.

 

--

 

 

Sakura was in the kitchen making lunch when she heard Naruto walk in.

 

“So how did it go?”

 

“Fine.” He didn't sound too convincing and Sakura turned to look at him. He had a serious look on his face. She had seen that look before. Sakura was getting worried, and fast.

 

“Naruto, what's wrong?” He heard the concern in her voice.

 

“Don't worry about it. I'm gonna be in my room, call me when lunch is ready.”

 

Reluctantly she nodded. She knew he would tell her eventually what was bothering him. All she could do was wait for him to come to her.

 

--

 

 

Naruto made sure the door was locked before he took the letter out of his pocket. He knew Sakura would never enter his room without knocking it was just that locking the door made him feel alone. He stared at the letter, running his fingers over his name. Slowly he opened the letter.

 

 

I am ready for your judgment. Meet me in the place where we last saw each other.

 

Sasuke

 

 

Naruto didn't know if he should be happy about Sasuke's return or not. It was true he wanted to see Sasuke again, but was he ready to pass judgment. Maybe seeing Sasuke will make all the anger and hurt he felt come back to the surface. Suddenly Naruto realized he doubted whether or not he would ever be able to be friend with him again. So much had happened since the last time they met. Naruto was not the same person he was then, and neither was Sakura. He knew Sasuke was not the same person he once knew. But how much had Sasuke changed? How much had he changed? Could they even be friends anymore? Then again there are things that never change, but what could those things be? There were too many questions for Naruto to answer. He doubted anyone could answer them.

 

“Naruto, lunch.” Sakura was knocking on the door softly. She heard Naruto unlock the door and when he opened it she knew something was wrong. He never locked his door. For the three years they had lived together not once had he locked his door. She didn't even know his door had a lock. She felt a little bit hurt that he would lock the door. Then again, she knew she was probably over exaggerating. Naruto had his reasons, and she knew he would never do anything to intentionally hurt her. So they just stood there looking at each other. He spoke first.

 

“Here.” He held out the open letter. When she took it he walked down the hall toward the kitchen. He heard her gasp and felt her eyes on his back. He knew what question was going through her mind. It was the same one he had.

 

Would he go meet Sasuke or would he be too scared to face him?

 

--

 

 

He had been staring at the waterfall for at least three hours. The constant sound of the falling water had a calming effect on him, even if it didn't calm him completely. There were too many things going through his head to be calm. Too many emotions, more then he thought possible. He was going to see him again. Had he forgiven him? He knew Naruto would never forget, but would he forgive?

 

`What if Naruto wants to kill me, will I let him?' He closed his eyes, knowing the answer would be yes. He had hurt the one friend he had, the only friend he had ever had. He had gone unpunished for too long. He looked down at the sack by his feet. He knew what he had to offer would never be enough, but it was more a sign of peace then one of forgiveness. He turned to look at the waterfall again.

 

“Three years.”

 

This was the place where he made his decision. This was where he almost made the biggest mistake of his life. This would be the place where he would face his judgment. That's when he sensed his presence. He turned slowly facing him.

 

“Naruto.”

 

“Sasuke.”

 

They started at each other for a few seconds. Sasuke looked behind Naruto to see Sakura standing there. He had a feeling Naruto wouldn't come alone. Hell, he wouldn't come alone if he were Naruto.

 

“Sakura.” She simply nodded in acknowledgement. Now that all the formalities were taken care of, none of them knew what to say, so they simply looked at each other.

 

Sasuke was almost shocked to see how much they had both changed. Naruto was about his height now. He had let his hair grow long. It was tied back in a ponytail similar Jirayia's but not as long. He had replaced his bright orange outfit for a much darker orange outfit, almost black. The pants and jacket were still the same style though. He wore his jacket open revealing a fishnet shirt as well as a well-toned body. His face was more defined, and the lines on his cheeks were darker then Sasuke remembered. Naruto still had his forehead on his head. `At least that hasn't changed.'

 

Sakura had also changed. Her hair was once again long, and she had it tied back in a high ponytail. Instead of the long bangs she used to have, she now had shorter ones that covered her forehead. In place of the dress she used to wear were black pants and a deep red shirt. Her chest binds barely showing over the neck of her shirt. He knew she still wore the white circle on her back even if he couldn't see it. She now wore her forehead protector around her upper right arm. `She seems much more confidant.'

 

Upon seeing Sasuke, Naruto knew that he didn't look at all like he had imaged him to be like. Naruto couldn't tell if Sasuke had simply not gotten any taller, or if he had finally caught up to him. His hair was now shoulder length with bangs that still cast shadows on his face. In place of his shorts was a pair of midnight blue pants. He still wore his trademark high collar shirt, only this one was black and sleeveless. Under the shirt he wore a fishnet shirt with sleeves that came down to his elbows. Naruto imaged he still had the Uchiha symbol on his back. `He was always proud to wear it.'

 

After what seemed like ages Sasuke finally broke the silence, “So what is your judgment?” Naruto stared at him. Both of them wore emotionless expressions. Sasuke thought he saw a hint of anger in Naruto's eyes.

 

“You should be more worried about what the Hokage wants to do to you and not me.”

 

“Naruto, I don't care what she wants.” Naruto continued to look at Sasuke with an emotionless expression. `He won't forgive me. I knew it.' Sasuke lowered his head awaiting the judgment had prepared himself for.

 

`What happened to the Sasuke I knew? I don't know this man. He's being too submissive. The Sasuke I knew would never let someone else control his life much make decisions for him.' Naruto was starting to get slightly angry. This was not how he had expected things to go. He thought Sasuke would come and ask in his “I don't give a shit” voice to come home. But this Sasuke didn't sound that way. This Sasuke didn't even ask to come home. This Sasuke looked at Naruto like he was expecting Naruto to kill him. `If that's what he wants.'

 

“Naruto?” Sasuke looked up at the sound of Sakura's voice. He hadn't even noticed Naruto was only a few feet away from him now. He watched Naruto take a kunai from his holster. `Here it comes.' Sasuke closed his eyes again and waited for the blow. But it never came. He opened his eyes to see Naruto holding the handle of the kunai out.

 

“Spar with me.”

 

 

-------

 

CLIFFHANGER!!! Yeah me evil. I try. Open the eyes, close the eyes, open the eyes, close, open. I need to be more original.

 

Anyway I guess you can kinda see the purpose of the letter. Without the damn letter how would I get the three to meet again?? Okay leave comments, and again I apologize ahead of time for spelling and grammatical errors.

 

 Anyway, just to let you know when Sasuke left I estimated their age to be around 12. So three years later would make then 15. Thats for all of you who can't do math :)