Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ There's a Magic Spell in Smiles ❯ And Maybe You'll see the Might ( Chapter 7 )

There's a Magic Spell in Smiles

Chapter 07: And Maybe You'll See the Might

By Kyuubi-kun

 

Over the next two months, Naruto did several things that made people recall the boy that had once been there in front of them. The first thing he did was remove his mask when he was off-duty. No one really knew what inspired the change in the blonde but most were glad because of it. Children laughed at Naruto's pranks and performances.

No one had realized how quiet and dull Konoha had become since Sasuke's betrayal of the Leaf until Naruto stepped back into the past. Now, with the blonde acting more like the genin that he used to be, the colors seemed brighter, among other things. Things were not the same as they had been, but they were better.

Only one person did not share the joy with the rest of Konoha. He had a theory about why the blonde was becoming his old self. If anything, seeing these things happen only worried the silver-haired jounin more.

Tsunade approached Naruto's former teacher, curious as to why the man was brooding so often lately. It didn't fit his personality very well. “Kakashi?” the Hokage asked, standing next to him. They were on the platform that looked up at the faces carved into Hokage Mountain. Looking down, one could see the entire village spread before them.

“Yes, Hokage-sama?” Kakashi asked. He knew that the woman must be here for a reason and that it must be somewhat important for her to actually seek him our instead of summoning him to her.

“You've seemed off lately,” Tsunade told him bluntly. “I would just like to if anything has been troubling you.” She paused, waiting to see if he would say anything, but the son of the infamous Hatake Sakumo was silent. Tsunade took this as a signal to continue. “Do your recent thoughts have anything to do with the inverted mood of Uzumaki Naruto?”

Kakashi nodded slowly, feeling as though lying to the woman would be futile, as well as stupid.

“Why?” the Hokage persisted. “Isn't it a good thing that Naruto is acting like his old self? The villagers seem to think so.”

Kakashi snorted. “The villagers usually think about unimportant matters.”

“Do you?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether one thinks the past is unimportant.”

Tsunade felt her sympathy go to the jounin. “Do you still blame yourself for what Sasuke did?” she asked softly, as though not wanting to say the sentence.

Kakashi shook hi head. “No, but I blame myself for what happened to Naruto. Looking back, it was all so simple and clear. Why didn't I realize it until now?”

Tsunade tilted her head to the side, obviously puzzled. “What are you talking about, Kakashi?”

Instead of giving her a straight answer like most would, Kakashi sighed and stared into the distance for a moment before speaking. “My students were my family. I wanted to be there for them, always. But I didn't see what was really happening between Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke may have initially left, not for power, but because of his feelings for Naruto.”

Tsunade gasped softly as realization dawned on her. “They loved each other.” This was said, not as a question, but as a statement.

Kakashi nodded anyway. “One of Sasuke's ambitions was reviving his clan - which obviously cannot be done with Naruto. So he did the only thing he could think of.”

“He left,” Tsunade murmured, finishing Kakashi's thought train for him.

Kakashi nodded again, staring down at Naruto. The blonde could be seen playing with the children of the villagers at the playground. The boy looked so happy and carefree but Kakashi knew that that was far from true. A broad grin was on the Uzumaki's face as he wrestled with the neighborhood kids, teaching them techniques for when they went out to become shinobi.

He could still see the changing faces of Naruto in his head.

 

A small boy the age of twelve, a proud grin on his face as he pulled his arms up, shifting the hitae-ite confidently. “I'm going to be Hokage and have everyone in the village acknowledge me!” he promised.

 

At the burial of Zabuza and Haku, a young boy looked towards the dying sun with a broad grin on his face. “I'm going to run down the straight path where I'm not going to regret anything!”

 

At the preliminaries for the Chuunin Exam, Inzuka Kiba had said something about becoming Hokage. Naruto picked himself up, smirking with a challenging glare in his eye as he wiped blood from his chin. “If you're going to compete with me for the Hokage name… I'll whip you like a dog…”

 

An adult trapped in a boy's body. Sadness and guilt entering the blue eyes that once sparkled so much. “Sasuke's gone.” Barely spoken above a whisper, the boy looked pitiful as he stared at the ground, uttering those words.

 

A stoic, expressionless blonde who could no longer live without a tangible mask. “Sasuke's coming home soon. I don't know if it will be a grand finale for us or a new beginning. Nobody knows, but I think I'm just happen to be able to see him one more time.”

 

A teenager who had foregone the mask for the first time in his life, sipping a drink while death approached him, though he knew not when or how. All he knew was that it was nearby. “I just want to be able to live the best I can in the time I'm given. They say a tiger is fiercest when he knows the end is near. Well, I know the end is near too. I may not be a tiger, but there's just some feelings that you cannot ignore. I'm going to die soon - how has yet to be seen.”

 

It was a long while before either of them spoke again. When they did, it was Kakashi who was talking.

“All I want for them is a happy life,” he murmured softly. The wind that brushed against them nearly stole his words away, making them lost for eternity to travel in the air, unheard. But Tsunade heard them. Kakashi turned to the Hokage and gave her a smile.

“Don't you think they deserve that, too?” Kakashi asked.

Tsunade smiled and nodded, knowing that's what she felt too.

All of the sudden, a loud blast reached their ears and the sound of villagers screaming surrounded them. Both nin snapped their heads up, and finally spotted the danger. At the East gate came the Army of the Sound. Uchiha Sasuke, wearing the forehead protector of Orochimaru's Hidden Village of the Sound led them.

 

Preview of Chapter Eight: Of Heroes Smiling Strong and Bright

 

“It's rude to not introduce yourself when you know another's identity,” Sasuke pointed out, a smirk placed on his lips. His eyes were cold, merciless. The Anbu in front of him was unfamiliar to him - yet at the same time, they were someone Sasuke knew. He didn't know how he knew that fact, and he didn't really care either.

Naruto grinned roguishly behind his mask. “It's against regulation to do this,” he commented softly. “Especially when I'm on-duty, but I've never been one who cares about rules much.”

He shrugged off the deep purple cloak that he wore as a symbol of his rank. Tossing it to the dusty ground, Naruto stood completely in Anbu gear, colored all black and purple. He lifted his hand up to his face and his other untied the cord that held the mask to his face.

The blonde slowly took the fox mask off, revealing who he was. After all, there were no other blonde-haired, blue-eyed, whisker-scarred shinobi that he knew of. He had been all over the world, so he would know if there were.

“Naruto…” the other murmured softly, as though disbelieving the sight before his eyes.