Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Shattered ❯ Family ( Chapter 12 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. ::cries hysterically::

 

Thanks to my beta. She knows how to read jibberish.

 

 

Chapter 12: Family

 

The smile returned to Naruto's face once again. Everything was going to be okay. Sasuke still had a lot of questions to ask, but those could wait until later. If anything he could probably ask Sakura, so as not to make Naruto feel like he was being interrogated. Sasuke went to grab the chair and pulled it closer to the side of the bed. The rest of the visit was spent talking about mundane topics. They had both had their fill of serious conversations.

 

“Oye Sasuke, when are we gonna find out who gets promoted to chuunin?”

 

“We should find out within the next few weeks.”

 

--

 

After two weeks in the hospital Naruto was finally being released. He wanted nothing more then to sleep in his own bed, and eat real food. The thought of Sakura's cooking was enough to make him drool. He dressed quickly. Iruka had informed him the day before that he was going to be the one to pick him up and take him home. Unlike Kakashi, Iruka was known for his punctuality and Naruto didn't want to ruin his morning by angering Iruka. Naruto stopped to look at the clock on the wall. He had only about five more minutes before Iruka showed up. Grabbing his toothbrush he rushed to the bathroom. As he was about to walk in, the calendar on the wall caught his attention.

 

`Wow, I totally forgot what today was.'

 

He walked in the bathroom and proceeded to brush his teeth. As he looked at himself in the mirror he couldn't help but think of what today meant. He was too caught up in his thoughts to hear Iruka walk in the room.

 

“Naruto, are you here?”

 

Upon hearing Iruka's voice, Naruto rinsed his mouth and walked out of the bathroom. Iruka was sitting on the bed when Naruto walked in. Without saying a word Naruto walked over and hugged him. Iruka returned the hug. He couldn't help but feel a sudden warmth fill his heart.

 

`I wonder if this is how my father felt when he hugged me?'

 

After some time Naruto stepped back and grabbed the small bag on the bed. “Ready?”

 

“Yeah. Let's go to your place first so you can drop off that bag then we'll go.”

 

--

 

Upon arriving home Naruto couldn't help but notice how quiet the house was. He walked over to the kitchen and saw Sakura sitting at the table holding a mug, with what he assumed was coffee.

 

“Sakura-chan?”

 

She jumped slightly when he said her name. She didn't even hear him walk in. “Welcome home, Naruto.”

 

Naruto couldn't help but give her a cheesy smile. Every time she said those words he swore his heart would swell. No one had ever said those words to him before. It wasn't until they moved in together that he heard them. He remembered that day as if it were yesterday; he had just gotten back from a one-day mission. As soon as he closed the door Sakura walked up to him and said “Welcome home Naruto.” That was the only time he could remember shedding tears of joy.

 

“It's good to be back home Sakura. Where's Sasuke?” Naruto motioned for her to follow him to his room. Sakura got up, leaving her mug on the table.

 

“He's still in bed. He was out late last night.”

 

“Doing what?”

 

“Training I think. He seems to have a lot on his mind lately.”

 

Naruto walked in his room and put his bag on the bed. “You know I told him.”

 

“Yeah I know. He came to me first, but I didn't say anything.”

 

Naruto turned to her and smiled. “Iruka is waiting outside. I'll see you tonight.”

 

Sakura nodded and moved out of the way so Naruto could walk out of his room. As they walked down the hall toward the front door, Sakura reached out and grabbed Naruto's arm. “Oh I almost forgot. Wait here.” Sakura quickly ran to her room. She came out a few moments later with her hands behind her back. “I made you something.”

 

“Sakura, you didn't have too.”

 

“But I wanted too.” When she was standing in front of Naruto she brought her hands out from behind her and held them out. In one hand she held a dark blue knitted scarf. Naruto noted that at both ends of the scarf there were orange spirals. In the other hand she held a modified forehead protector. “It's going to be getting cold soon so I made you the scarf. I know that sometimes your hair can get in the way of missions, so I had this forehead protector made for you. It ties around your head and keeps your hair out of your face. It's good for stealth as well.”

 

Naruto reached out and took the two items. The scarf was extremely soft at the touch. With one hand he draped it around his neck. The length was perfect, not too long and not too short. He then opened the forehead protector to get a good look at it. It looked a lot like the one Genma had, except this one tied at the back and the Konoha emblem was made of a darker metal. Moving it around Naruto noted that it didn't reflect as much light as the normal emblems.

 

“Thanks Sakura-chan. I love them!” Naruto took a step forward and hugged her tightly.

 

“Naruto you should go. You don't want to keep Iruka-sensei waiting.” Sakura took a small step back and took the forehead protector out of Naruto's hand. “I'll put this on your bed.”

 

Remembering that Iruka was still waiting outside, Naruto let Sakura take the present and turned to run out the house. He yelled one last thank you before slamming the door closed. Sakura stood in the hallway for a few moments before turning to go to Naruto's room. After placing his present on his bed, Sakura walked back to the kitchen table and returned to her forgotten mug. She wasn't there five minutes before Sasuke walked in. He sat next to her and she noticed he had a confused look on his face.

 

“Where did he go?” It was then Sakura realized that Sasuke didn't know what today was. She felt stupid for not telling him sooner. It was so routine for her that she forgot that there were people in the house who didn't know.

 

“I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. But today is Naruto's birthday. Every year he spends today with Iruka-sensei. I don't know what they do. We usually celebrate when he gets back.”

 

“I know today's his birthday, I just didn't know he spent it with Iruka.” One of the reasons Sasuke was out late the night before was because he had bought Naruto a birthday present. It wasn't something as sentimental as the one's Sakura had given Naruto, but it would do. He was just to embarrassed to tell anyone he had shopped for the dobe.

 

“When he comes home we usually have some people come over and we have dinner. I hope you don't mind. I really should have said something sooner.”

 

“No it's okay. This is something you do every year. Don't stop just because I didn't know.” Sasuke just hoped that the night wouldn't be ruined because of other people's feelings toward him. He knew that Naruto and Sakura welcomed him back. Lee accepted him back because of Sakura. The others had not been so welcoming. Kiba had made that obvious at the chuunin exam.

 

--

 

Naruto reached out and touched the tree in front of him. This was the tree he had sat under when Iruka gave him his forehead protector. He had graduated from the academy under this tree. Every year since then, he would spend the day here with Iruka on his birthday. Somehow sitting under this tree made them both feel safe, like they could talk about anything and everything and yet nothing at all. It was a strange feeling, but neither of them would trade it for the world.

 

Naruto turned and sat down on the blanket Iruka had set out. Iruka sat across from him and there was a picnic basket between them. They both reached out and started grabbing food. They ate in silence.

 

Iruka looked up and studied Naruto when he wasn't paying attention. He took note of how much Naruto had grown over the years. His face was more mature, yet still held on to some of his innocence. His eyes were large and full of life, especially after Sasuke's return, yet he knew that when in battle those eyes were sharp and piercing. His hair was long and untamed, much like his personality. He knew Naruto was a good boy, and would turn into a wonderful man. He would turn into someone Iruka would be proud to call son. But whether or not Naruto wanted that was yet to be seen. It was the one thing Iruka hesitated in talking to Naruto about.

 

“I was very proud of you Naruto during the tournament.”

 

Naruto stopped eating and looked up at Iruka. “You were there?”

 

“Of course I was there. Did you honestly think I would miss it?”

 

“You missed it last time.” Naruto recalled the first time he had been in the tournament. Iruka was unable to attend because he had to be at the academy that day.

 

“I know, and I didn't want that to happen again.” Iruka leaned forward and ruffled Naruto's hair.

 

“Ero-Sennin wasn't there though. You'd think he'd show up to at least see how I would do.”

 

“Jirayia-sama was there. He just isn't one to show his care for someone out in the open.”

 

“How do you know he was there?”

 

“I caught a glimpse of him. He had this cocky smile on his face.” Iruka watched as the look on Naruto's face went from one of disappointment to happiness.

 

“Thanks Iruka-sensei.” After a small pause, Iruka stood up and walked over to one of the trees. “What are you doing?”

 

“I hid your birthday present over here.” Naruto stood up and walked over to where Iruka was standing. Iruka reached behind the tree and pulled out a short katana. The handle and the sheath fit together in such a way that it was difficult to tell where one started and the other ended. The sheath and handle were an elegant black. Iruka pulled the sheath off to reveal the blade. The blade had flames carved into it all the way to the tip. Naruto stared at the blade speechless. “This katana used to belong to my father. He passed it on to me before he died, but I never had any use for it. I want you to have it Naruto.”

 

“Your father gave it to you. It's an heirloom then. You should give it to your son or daughter or something.” Naruto wanted nothing more then to grab the katana, but he still took a small step back. Iruka should give the katana to his children, when he had them, not to some orphan.

 

Iruka re-sheathed the katana and held it out. “Naruto I want you to have the katana.”

 

“But what about when you have a son or - “ Naruto was interrupted by Iruka who shoved the katana into Naruto's hands.

 

“I already have one Naruto, or at least I hope I do.”

 

Naruto wasn't sure he understood Iruka correctly. It almost sounded like he had insinuated that Naruto was his son. But that didn't make sense to Naruto. So he just stood there in silence, with the katana in his hand. Iruka looked almost desperate.

 

“Naruto, I would be proud to call you my son. I've seen you grow and mature. I can see the kind of man you'll grow up to be and it makes me so proud. You make me proud. I just hope that maybe one day you'll be able to call me father.” It was all up to Naruto now. Iruka had laid it all out for Naruto. It was Naruto's decision to make and whatever it may be Iruka knew he would have to respect it. Even if that decision crushed his heart.

 

“You want me as your son?” Iruka nodded at Naruto's question. “You want to be my father?” Once again Iruka nodded. Naruto looked down at the katana in his hand. He knew the significance of the present. Someone cared. Iruka cared. Even though the Kyuubi killed his parents. Even though Naruto held the Kyuubi he still cared. He wanted Naruto as his son. Naruto felt tears fall down his cheeks. “I can only hope that I will be able to continue to make you proud of me…..” Naruto looked up with tears in his eyes at Iruka. “….Dad.”

 

Without saying a word Iruka rushed forward and crushed Naruto in a hug. Iruka held Naruto as he openly sobbed into his vest. Naruto finally had a family of his own. Being an orphan himself, Iruka knew how he felt about having a family once again, but he could only imagine how Naruto felt. Someone who had never known the feeling of having a family, suddenly had one. Iruka knew the tears Naruto shed weren't of pain but of relief and shear happiness. Without letting go Iruka leaned down so Naruto would be able to hear him speak. “Happy 16th birthday, my son.”

 

--

 

It had been a long time since Sasuke had last been to a party. As a matter of fact, now that he thought about it he's never been to a party, much less planned one. Thankfully Sakura took it upon herself to do all the planning. She had no problem ordering him around. When Lee showed up, things got a little easier. Naruto was supposed to show up around five and everyone else at around seven. That gave them enough time to finish up and spend some quality time together.

 

“Sakura-chan, I'm back!”

 

“We're in the kitchen Naruto.” Naruto walked in the kitchen with an overly cheerful Iruka behind him. Sasuke noted that Naruto was holding a short katana in his hand.

 

“Look what I got.”

 

Sakura, Lee and Sasuke all walked over to Naruto. Sasuke took the katana from Naruto and unsheathed it. Sakura gasped at the sight of the blade.

 

“Naruto-kun, it's beautiful. Did Iruka-sensei give it to you?” Naruto nodded at Lee's question, then turned to look at Iruka, who was nervously scratching at the scar across his nose. There was an obvious blush on his face as well.

 

“It used to belong to my father.”

 

Naruto took back the katana and turned to walk to his room. Lee went back to the kitchen to finish the chore assigned to him and Sakura busied herself by offering Iruka some tea. Sasuke waited until everyone was no longer paying attention to him before following Naruto. On his way to Naruto's room, Sasuke grabbed the bag that held Naruto's present. The door to Naruto's room was open so Sasuke just walked in. Naruto was sitting on his bed, looking down at the katana he held.

 

“Sasuke will you shut the door, I have something to tell you.”

 

Sasuke shut and locked the door before taking a seat next to Naruto. He put the bag on the floor, out of view. Sasuke just looked at the floor between his feet as he waited for Naruto to start talking.

 

“He said his dad gave him this before he died.” Naruto paused before continuing. “The Kyuubi killed both his parents. And yet he never once showed any anger or resentment towards me.”

 

“Naruto why should he be mad at you for something you didn't do.” Sasuke didn't know Iruka was an orphan, not that it changed the way he viewed the man. What his mind was trying to wrap itself around was this burden Naruto felt he had to carry with him. “All those people who hate you are bigger idiots then you can ever be. They don't know you. If they took just five minutes out of their insignificant lives to talk to you they would see that their anger and hate was misplaced.”

 

Sasuke could see Naruto out of the corner of his eye staring at him with his mouth open. “Did you just compliment me Sasuke?”

 

“Look I'm not going to repeat myself okay.” For what seemed like the millionth time in one day Naruto felt his heart swell. “What was it you were going to tell me?”

 

“I was getting to that. Geez have some patience.”

 

Sasuke couldn't help but smack Naruto on the head. Being told by the most impatient person he knew to be patient was too much. Sasuke could feel his eyebrow twitch when Naruto just gave him a cheesy smile instead of yelling or hitting him back. Naruto was finally getting back into the swing of things when it came to Sasuke and what buttons to push.

 

“Iruka said he wanted his son to have the katana.” Sasuke felt his eyes go wide at the statement. “He called me his son, Sasuke.

 

“That's great Naruto.” The words lacked any emotion behind them and for a split second Sasuke thought Naruto was going to get really mad at him. Naruto had just been given quite possibly the greatest gift ever and Sasuke couldn't show him how happy he was for him. Instead images of his own father kept popping up, reminding him that he didn't have a family to call his own.

 

“You miss your dad don't you?” Sasuke didn't want to answer Naruto. Naruto always had the ability to get him to open up, except this time opening up might result in Sasuke crying. But Sasuke had promised himself he wouldn't cry anymore. So he just sat there and let Naruto do all the talking. “You know I meant what I said all those years ago about how I feel about you.”

 

Sasuke flinched at the comment. “I meant it when I said I see you as a brother. I still feel that way. We don't have to call each other brother or anything. It's gonna take me a while to get used to calling Iruka dad. But I just want you to know that you're not alone either.”

 

Sasuke couldn't stop his eyes from watering up. This was too much. He wanted to run out of the room. Wanted to get away from Naruto. He didn't want to show Naruto how much those words meant to him. But he couldn't get up he was frozen in place. He saw Naruto get up and get down on his knees in front of him. He felt Naruto place his hands on his shoulders and push back a little so he could see his face.

 

“As long as I'm here you will never be alone.” Sasuke felt the tears fall down his face. “And don't worry I won't tell anyone you cried, even though there's nothing wrong with that.”

 

“I haven't cried since that time. And you better not tell.”

 

Naruto smiled at the comment. Sasuke always had to sound like a bad ass, no matter what the situation was. Naruto looked down and noticed the small bag at Sasuke's feet. “What's in the bag?”

 

Sasuke had completely forgotten about the bag. “Open it. It's for you Naruto.”

 

Naruto grabbed the bag and sat back on the floor in front of Sasuke. He watched as Naruto pulled out the hand and shin protectors. “I noticed that during our match you hit pretty hard. Those protectors will make sure you don't break any bones, being the moron that you are.”

 

“Wow thanks Sasuke. I can wear these under my pants, and these hand protectors look different from the ones issued to jounins.”

 

“I had those specially made. I know you have that small spiral tattoo on your palm, and I thought maybe you didn't want to cover that up. Besides the Rasengan might destroy the jounin issued protectors.”

 

Naruto was speechless. It was one thing to have Sakura give him specially made things, but Sasuke? He never gave anyone anything. Naruto had been expecting a “Happy Birthday Dobe” and that was it. But this was too much. He went to stand up, dropping the bag out of his lap when he saw a picture fall out. Naruto bent over to pick up the picture before standing up completely. What he saw took his breath away. It was him and Sasuke during their one month of training before the tournament. During that month they had trained separately and only saw each other during meals. A few days before Jirayia left, he had insisted that Naruto and Sasuke pose for a picture. After about ten minutes of nagging Sasuke had finally agreed. In the picture Naruto was crouching with his elbows resting on his knees. He held his face with his left hand. Sasuke stood behind his left shoulder with his back slightly turned at an angle. The pose only showed the right side of Sasuke's face. Only Naruto was smiling in the picture, but there was a small hint of amusement in Sasuke's eyes.

 

“I thought you might want that.”

 

“Wow thanks Sasuke. Hey can you write the date or something on the back?”

 

Sasuke took the picture from Naruto's hand and walked over to the nightstand. He looked around for a pen before turning the picture over. After writing the date and a small note he handed the picture back before walking out the room. Naruto took the picture and turned it over after Sasuke had walked out. On the back was the date and in Sasuke's near perfect penmanship, “For the brother I wish I had.” Naruto just smiled at the line before placing the picture on the nightstand and walking out of his room as well.

 

--

 

The party was in full swing, and Sakura couldn't be any happier. Everyone was there and Naruto was happy. He had pulled her aside earlier and told her about the significance of the present Iruka gave him. She had cried and hugged Naruto until he told her to let go because he thought she had broken some of his ribs. He told her not to say anything though. He was still trying to get used to the idea and didn't need the extra pressure of other people butting in. She had promised not to say anything, not even to Lee. But by the smile he gave her, she knew he expected her to tell Lee……eventually.

 

Sakura walked around making sure everyone had something to eat, or drink. She had brought out some extra chairs from the bedrooms to make sure everyone had a place to sit. People were talking and laughing. Naruto was being showered with presents. The conversation of the night was the tournament and how Naruto really surprised everyone. Sakura received some praise as well. As Sakura walked toward their bedrooms to change her shoes she noticed that Sasuke was leaning up against the wall and that no one was talking to him.

 

“Sasuke, quite the wallflower aren't you?” Ignoring her throbbing feet for a moment, Sakura leaned against the wall next to Sasuke.

 

“It's nice to see everyone interacting.”

 

“I know you've never been the social type, but really you should go talk to someone. At least spend some time with Naruto or Lee. They won't push you away.”

 

“I don't want to force anyone into a conversation with me.”

 

Sakura sighed heavily and pushed herself off the wall. “Forcing someone to talk with you and trying to get someone to talk to you are two different things. It won't kill you to try.” With that she walked down the hall to her room, leaving Sasuke behind to think about what she said.

 

Sasuke knew she had a point. If he was to work with these people he would have to try and patch things up. He quickly looked around the room before finding the head of untamed yellow hair he was looking for. As he approached Naruto he saw that he was talking with Neji.

 

“…yeah I'll spar with you sometime. Oh there you are Sasuke, I thought you were in your room.”

 

Sasuke felt Neji look at him. Neither one of them was known for being conversationalist, but with Naruto around anything could happen. Turning to look at Neji, Sasuke decided he would be the one to break the ice.

 

“I heard you made chuunin a while back and that in your tournament you fought Lee.”

 

Naruto realized what Sasuke was trying to do, so he kept quiet.

 

“Me and Lee were the last match. It was inevitable that we would face each other.”

 

“Who won?”

 

Sasuke watched a smirk spread across Neji's face. As Neji turned to walk away he said over his shoulder, “I'll tell you all about it some other time.”

 

Sasuke returned the smirk and watched Neji walk over to where Tenten and Ino were talking. Neji had said some other time, that meant they would get a chance to talk later. Neji had given Sasuke a chance, and Sasuke could ask for nothing more.

 

“Ano, Sasuke? Neji said that tomorrow we should find out who made chuunin and who didn't.”

 

“About time.”

 

The rest of the night Naruto and Sasuke traveled around the house starting up small conversations with everyone there. Slowly people were starting to warm up to Sasuke. Having Naruto there helped a lot. When people saw how the two of them interacted it was easy to see that Sasuke had changed. He wasn't as cold as he was all those years ago. All in all it was a great night.

 

--

 

Knock!

 

Opening her eyes, Sakura could only hope that the knock she heard was all a dream.

 

Knock Knock!

 

Maybe if she ignored them, they would go away.

 

Knock Knock Knock!!

 

Nope, they weren't going anywhere. Getting up, she grabbed her robe and walked down the hall toward the front door. She heard Naruto and Sasuke open the door to their rooms.

 

KNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCK!!

 

“IT'S 3AM MUST YOU REALLY KNOCK SO HARD!!” Sakura threw the door open as she yelled at whoever was knocking. She didn't care anymore about looking nice or acting nice.

 

“Good morning to you too Sakura.”

 

Sakura could tell that Kakashi was smiling when his eye curved upward. “What do you want?”

 

“My, my. The one time I use the door you still get mad. Well I just thought you three should know that you are expected to show up at the jounin meeting room, since you three made chuunin.”

 

“We did?” Sakura turned to see that Naruto and Sasuke were standing in the living room. Naruto wore only his boxers. He had the worse case of bed hair she had ever seen, which said a lot considering his hair was already untamed. Sasuke had on some pajama pants and a tank top. His hair didn't look so bad, but he did have sheet markings on the right side of his face.

 

“Yes you did, and I am very proud of you guys. Now go back to bed. You are to be there at 9am.” And with that Kakashi walked away.

 

“Seriously, why can't we have a normal sensei?”

 

--

 

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were seated in the back of the meeting room. The room looked a lot like the rooms at the academy, expect larger. There were a lot of chuunins in room. But Naruto didn't care about them; he wanted to see who passed the exam as well. Near the front of the room he saw the back of Hinata and Choji's head, but no Kiba. He also noticed that all the people in the room were from Konoha, so he had no way of knowing if Hibiki or Ryo passed. Shortly thereafter a tall, broad shouldered jounin walked in the room.

 

“My name Teisukawa Hijiro. I am the jounin in charge of assigning chuunins to their positions. Many of you are here to be reassigned, and a few of you are newly promoted chuunins. For those of you that are newly promoted chuunins let me give you some information. If, for whatever reason you decide that you are happy being a chuunin and do not want to be promoted to a jounin please go to the Anbu headquarters and tell them. They are in charge of the jounins. This decision can be changed at any time. We ask that you do that because it's a waste of time to observe and critique a chuunin who does not wish to be promoted. Am I making sense thus far?”

 

A few people in the room nodded while others said yes. “All other questions can be answered by your former sensei's. When I call your name please come down to receive your vest and your assignment. As soon as you are assigned, please leave the room. Understand, good. Haruno Sakura?”

 

Upon hearing her name Sakura quickly stood up and quickly approached Hijiro. He handed her a chuunin vest, which she promptly put on. “You have been given a special assignment. The Hokage has requested that you start working in the hospital and said that from this day forth you are her official apprentice. Congratulations Haruno-san.”

 

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. The Hokage wants to be her sensei. As she turned to walk out of the room people kept congratulating her. As she walked out she heard Hijiro call Hinata's name.

 

When Hinata's name was called Sasuke leaned back in his chair. It was Sasuke's understanding that the winner of the tournament got first pick as to where they wanted to be assigned. Calling Sakura first, made sense, but Naruto's name should have been called next. Instead Hinata's was. Sasuke began to realize the kind of treatment Naruto received on a daily basis, but this was absurd. This was a jounin who should know better then to break the rules.

 

“Sasuke what's wrong?”

 

Sasuke turned to look at Naruto. Obviously he didn't understand what had just happened. Not wanting to create a scene Sasuke just shook his head at Naruto. Naruto turned back to the front of the room and waited for his name to be called. It took half an hour before Sasuke's name was called, but by that point the only other person in the room was Naruto. Sasuke knew that both of them were being purposely alienated.

 

“Uchiha Sasuke, you will be assigned to carry out missions. Here is your vest.” Sasuke took his vest and began to walk toward the door. He stopped before opening the door when he realized Hijiro hadn't called Naruto's name yet. Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, who in turn looked at him. They shared a confused look before Naruto got up and started to walk toward Hijiro.

 

“Ano? I think you forgot me.”

 

Hijiro looked at Naruto, as if Naruto had a third head. “And what is your name?”

 

“Uzumaki Naruto.”

 

Hijiro looked down at his paperwork shuffling it around trying to find Naruto's name. “Here you are. Uzumaki Naruto you will be assigned to the academy. Here's your vest.”

 

“But I wanted to do missions.” Naruto reached out and took his vest from Hijiro's hand sheepishly.

 

“My decisions are final. Now leave before I strip you of your title.” Without waiting for an answer Hijiro looked back down at his paperwork and began to put it away. Naruto turned and stormed out of the room. Sasuke followed him, but before he could stop Naruto, Naruto took off running down the hall.

 

“Sasuke what happened?” Sasuke turned to see Kakashi standing in the hallway. He could tell by Kakashi's eye that he was worried.

 

“Naruto was called last and got assigned to the academy.”

 

“Who was the jounin in charge.”

 

“Teisukawa Hijiro.” Sasuke watched as Kakashi tightened his hands into fists. Taking a deep breath Kakashi relaxed his hands and opened the door to the room. He was about to walk in but stopped when he almost ran into Hijiro who was on his way out.

 

“How can I help you, Kakashi?”

 

“Why did you not call Naruto's name first. You know quite well he gets first pick.”

 

“I don't give traitors or demons first pick.” The words were barely out of his mouth before Kakashi slammed him into the wall by the door. Holding Hijiro against the wall by his vest Kakashi just stared into the man's face.

 

“I dare you to repeat that.”

 

“Kakashi, don't bother. You can't change the ignorant.” At Sasuke's words Kakashi released the man and took a step back. “Hijiro, I want to be assigned to the academy along with Naruto.”

 

“What, why?”

 

“That is none of your concern. Now if you don't I will not hesitate to inform the Hokage on your failure to follow the rules. I'm quite sure you are aware of her feelings toward Naruto. Not to mention Jirayia trained Naruto.” Taking the hint Hijiro quickly reassigned Sasuke to the academy and walked away.

 

“Sasuke are you going to let him get away with that?” Kakashi watched as Sasuke placed his hands in his pockets and started walking towards the exit. “Where are you going?”

 

“I'm going to go see the Hokage.” Kakashi could do nothing more then smile as Sasuke walked away.

 

--

 

Sasuke knocked lightly on Iruka's front door. This was his last hope. After seeing the Hokage, Sasuke had spent the rest of the day hunting down Naruto. But no one had seen or heard from him. When the door opened Sasuke instantly knew Naruto was with Iruka. Iruka looked tired, and slightly mad.

 

“Come in Sasuke. I take it you're here for Naruto.”

 

“Yes, can I talk to him?”

 

Iruka motioned to a door, that Sasuke assumed led to his bedroom. Sasuke didn't bother knocking and just opened the door. Naruto was laying on the bed, with his back to the door. The vest he had been given was on the opposite side of the bed. Sasuke looked around for a chair. He noticed a small desk in the corner covered with paper work. The wall above the desk was covered in drawings. All of them showed a small boy or girl standing next to a taller man with a scar on his face. Sasuke smiled at the drawings before grabbing the chair and taking it over to sit in front of Naruto. He could tell Naruto was awake by his breathing.

 

“I told the Hokage about what happened. I don't think I've ever seen her that mad before. But she said she couldn't change the assignments since all the arrangements have already been made. She also mentioned that to reassign one person would mean that everyone will want to be reassigned.”

 

“I already talked to Iruka - er I mean Dad, and he already explained all that to me.” Naruto still hadn't opened his eyes. Sasuke found it very unnerving not being able to see Naruto's eyes.

 

“Kakashi almost killed Hijiro after you left.”

 

“What stopped him?” Sasuke could hear the amusement in Naruto's voice. He was slowly getting through to him.

 

“I did. I had Hijiro reassign me to the academy as well.”

 

Sasuke almost fell out of his chair at the speed with which Naruto bolted up from the bed. “Why would you do that?”

 

“It wasn't fair what he did to you. You won and you should have been called first. Besides this way I'll get to be around more often instead of off on some mission some -“ Before Sasuke could finish what he was saying Naruto had rushed forward and engulfed him in a bear hug.

 

“Thank you, you bastard.”

 

Sasuke hesitantly reached up and hugged Naruto back. “That's what brothers are for.”

 

Neither one of them noticed Iruka shutting the door and walk back to the living room. Kakashi was sitting on the small couch when Iruka walked in.

 

“So how are they doing?”

 

“They should be fine. But looks like I'm going to have my hands full with two new instructors.” Iruka sat down on the coffee table across from Kakashi.

 

“I thought you had a genin helper?”

 

“Oh Ino, no she decided to try again for the chuunin exam. She's going to be on Kiba's team, since he didn't get promoted.”

 

“You'll do fine.” Kakashi got up and went to the front door. Now that he knew his students were okay he could go home and get some sleep. As he showed himself out he turned to Iruka one last time. “The kids will love them.”

 

 

 

----

 

 

 

Yeah I know I had a lot of crying in this chapter. But when I tried to think of how they would react, crying was what came to mind. Although I think Sasuke came out really OOC. And yes I am fully aware that suddenly it was Naruto's birthday. It's my fic and I decided to make it October.

 

The idea behind the picture Sasuke gave Naruto came from an image from the Naruto calendar. If you've ever seen the picture of the Future Sannins, then you know what pose I was talking about. Just imagine that pose, without Sakura and with their clothes not the sannin clothes and you know what I'm talking about. I'll try to post a link to it in my profile, if the one below doesn't work.

 

http://img82.exs.cx/img82/2507/narutogroup37bo.jpg

 

Thank you ANBU for the name, Teisukawa Hijiro. Yes I know he was a bad, bad man. Since I don't know how one goes about to becoming a jounin, I decided that to become one you have to be promoted to one by the jounin headquarters, which would be anbu. It only made sense to make the Anbu in charge of the jounins. But I have plans for Naruto and Sasuke at the academy.

 

 

So yeah send flames, reviews and anything else my way…….well anything expect for exploding penguins.