Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Vengeful ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Sasuke strode determinedly through the streets, followed by his three companions, as they searched desperately for a `ramen' stand. He absolutely refused to ask for directions, especially since the village was so small. Besides, as he had mentioned to Naruto, the last thing they needed was to draw attention to themselves - one of the reasons why he wore a hood when travelling.

Naruto, however, had no such rationality. The clothes he wore were orange. An obnoxiously bright orange that screamed at people to look at it, and combined with his hair and loud voice, it made Sasuke wonder if Naruto's intention was to be noticed as much as he possibly could. From what he knew of him so far, that wouldn't surprise him.

Of course, Sasuke himself had not been overly keen on going to a `ramen' stand. Ino and Sakura were not enthusiastic either. However, Naruto had described the simple dish so highly, and talked about it so ardently that Sasuke had given in, which he was now regretting as they wandered aimlessly.

When they had somehow arrived back at the inn, he decided that maybe it was a lost cause.

“Hey, this is the inn we started from,” Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke nodded wearily, wondering where he had taken a wrong turn. He was snapped out of this however, by angry yapping from Naruto. At first he was sure it was coming from the blond, but then looked down to see a small white dog, bouncing slightly as it barked.

As he was about to suggest that they don't touch it in case of disease or the like, Naruto knelt quickly and rubbed the dog's head. The barking instantly died away, and the dog wagged its tail happily. Sasuke sighed, shrugging helplessly at the other two. A sudden shout startled them.

“Akamaru! Come … oh, sorry about that! He's ju-“ The owner of the voice froze, and Sasuke looked across to see a young man, probably his own age. He had tousled brown hair, and two vertical red marks on each cheek. The expression on his face looked like a mix between surprise and fear, although he couldn't think why.

“Akamaru, eh?” Naruto said cheerfully. “He's cute! Yes he is.” Naruto scratched the dog behind the ears affectionately, earning a satisfied yap. The owner continued to stare, giving a betrayed look to the little dog. He coughed, and stepped forward hesitantly.

“Um … we should - “ He began, but was cut off by Naruto.

“Hey, are you from around here?” He asked, smiling.

“Uh … not really … I'm just … visiting.” The other answered unsteadily.

“Do you think you could help us out? We can't find the ramen stand - do you mind showing us where it is?” He gave Naruto a dumbfounded look, before blinking and nodding slowly.

“Great! Let's go!” Naruto picked up Akamaru, and followed after the rather dazed owner of the dog. Sasuke walked beside him, giving the blond a doubtful look, but he just shrugged, and grinned joyfully at the thought of the forthcoming ramen. Sasuke watched the boy in front curiously - there was something odd about him, and not just the weird markings painted on his face. Naruto leaned over to him.

“He's a little slow, don't you think?” Naruto whispered conspiratorially.

“Idiot,” Sasuke grunted in reply, before smirking, “you two have something in common then.” Naruto gave him an exaggerated look of hurt, putting his hand on his chest.

“Here it is.” They looked forward to see that they were at a small shop with a colourful R-A-M-E-N sign. Sasuke frowned, wondering how they'd missed it earlier. Naruto let out a delighted gasp, and ran in, still holding the small dog, whose owner watched this with wide eyes. Naruto shouted his order at the old woman behind the counter, and then turned to grin widely.

“I've ordered us all miso ramen!” Sasuke frowned, but Naruto slapped a hand on his back. “Trust me, Sasuke, you'll love it! Oh and, I've ordered you and Akamaru some too, to say thank you!” he said, addressing the dog's owner, who looked even more taken aback.

“Oh t-thanks then.” Naruto grinned and then tilted his head slightly.

“Oh - I never asked your name!” He exclaimed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It's … Kiba.”

“I'm Naruto Uzumaki! This is Sakura, Sasuke and Ino.” He said, gesturing to each of them. They nodded at Kiba politely and Naruto motioned to an empty table, bouncing slightly as he walked. Sasuke watched despairingly as he proceeded to draw the attention of all of the customers. He was shocked at how easily Naruto had become friendly with Kiba, as though it were the most natural thing in the world to buy strangers ramen.

When the ramen came, Naruto instantly quieted, unable to speak as he shovelled the noodles into his mouth at a rather sickening pace. He finished in under a minute, slurping the last of the soup from the bowl, setting it down, and calling for another bowl. The rest watched in wonder. Naruto gave them a strange look.

“What?” He glanced at Sasuke frowningly. “You haven't tried it yet! Try it, it's real good.” Sasuke obligingly took his chopsticks, and followed Naruto's example in eating, at a slower pace of course. Then he blinked - the simple dish was good, very good in fact. Though, needless to say, he would never tell Naruto that.

“It's not too bad.” He said disinterestedly. Naruto gave him a glare, not having received to answer he wanted, but quickly forgot about it when a second bowl was placed in front of him. Sasuke hid a smile at his enthusiasm towards the food. As he slowly ate the rest of his ramen, he took another look at Kiba, who was looking stunned and more than a bit uncomfortable with the situation he was in.

He shrugged to himself - maybe he had already eaten, and was just joining them out of politeness. Beside Kiba, Akamaru stuffed his face into a small ramen bowl hungrily, tail wagging. Kiba watched the dog disapprovingly.

Sasuke concentrated on savouring the taste of the ramen, careful not to allow any pleasure of doing so show on his face, although Ino gave him a knowing look. When he'd finished, he resisted the urge to ask for another bowl, instead settling with watching the others with a bored expression.

“All right.” Sakura said at length, excitement in her voice. “Now we go to the hot springs!” Sasuke cursed under his breath, having hoped she'd forgotten about that. What was exciting about sitting in hot water? Naruto didn't seem too troubled though, being more concerned about not having a fourth helping of ramen. When Ino and Sakura had dragged him away from the stand, Naruto turned to Kiba.

“Do you happen to know where the hot springs are, too?” Kiba, who had previously been backing away slowly to escape, stopped and, seeing Naruto's hopeful smile, nodded reluctantly.

They followed him through the winding streets, and Sasuke frowned as Naruto chatted energetically to Kiba in front of him. He frowned even more as Naruto put his arm around the other boy's shoulders, apparently talking about ramen. Was physical contact necessary for conversations about ramen? Sasuke was sure it wasn't necessary - but here Naruto was, arm around this total stranger, the idiot.

Realising what he was thinking, he shook his head. He was just annoyed with the blond for getting so friendly with strangers of course, which didn't help their situation. It certainly wasn't to do with any other sort of emotion towards the bonding. Anyway, he thought, it was hardly even bonding - he was just overreacting.

“Sasuke, are you okay?” Sakura was gazing at him concernedly, and he realised he'd been mumbling under his breath. He gave her a glare before watching the two leading them again. He'd have to have a talk with Naruto about trusting people.

When they finally arrived at the hot springs, Naruto released a very pale Kiba, thanking him for his help. Kiba nodded to him with a forced smile and retreated, clutching a protesting Akamaru tightly. He looked back cautiously, but the group were now arguing over who was going to pay.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he slumped against a wall, mentally exhausted from the last couple of hours.

How had he gotten into that mess? It was entirely the dog's fault, he reasoned, casting a glare at Akamaru, but sighed again - he couldn't be angry with him. He wondered why he had not refused the demon - probably shock more than anything.

That was certainly not what he had expected from the demon though, the friendliness and exuberance. Though that could be one of the reasons it was so dangerous?

After going through the ordeal, he still had no further information that would be of use to them, the only useful thing coming from it being a free meal. That was one ramen-obsessed demon, he thought, grinning to himself.

The grin instantly dropped as a shadow was cast over him from behind.

“Kiba …” Shino said ominously. Kiba gulped, and slowly turned to face his teammate. This wasn't good.

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Naruto sat calmly in the hot spring, nursing the bruises that he'd received when he accidentally walked into the girl's changing room. He sighed, wincing as his hand ran over a particularly large one on his abdomen. It wasn't as if he'd meant to go there, how was he supposed to know that the small picture meant girls only? It was worth it for the look on Sakura's face though, he thought, a grin creeping across his face.

Whoever had the idea of separating the springs into a male side and a female side was obviously a prude, and female. Now, because of that fact, he was going to be stuck with Sasuke for the duration - and the Uchiha prince was not a good conversationalist. In fact, they'd probably sit in complete silence if it were up to him.

When Sasuke did decide to show up, Naruto found himself looking intently through the mist for his form to fade into view. He swallowed, his throat dry, as Sasuke casually stepped down into the spring, a small towel wrapped around his waist. It was wrapped so loosely around that it looked more as though it were just resting, waiting to slip off.

Even through the steam, he could make out the well-defined, slender form, still pale, but not as much so as when he'd been washed up from the river. Then the body had seemed smaller and more fragile - but now he moved with a grace and finesse that suggested he was anything but fragile. He watched, enraptured, until a low voice broke him out of his reverie.

“What are you staring at?” Naruto looked up nervously and met the prince's onyx eyes. The confused expression on his face slowly dissolved into a smirk. Naruto's looked away quickly, and could almost feel the smug look. That bastard, he thought, thankful for the steam hiding his blush.

He hoped that Sasuke wouldn't realise, but his mind quickly reminded him that the prince had been a target for enormous female attention for years - of course he'd realise when someone was looking at him like that - and now he was probably going to taunt and goad him about it at every opportunity. He hoped that wasn't going to be the case.

Sasuke took a seat beside him, but didn't sit too close. He stretched liberally, his arm almost brushing the blonde. Naruto gritted his teeth, and knew he needed to make conversation quickly to get out of the situation.

“So …” he began, glad when Sasuke gave a noncommittal look that denoted his attention, “what's the Fire country like? All I really know is that it's big and rich.” Sasuke raised his eyebrows, and sighed, resting his head back against a rock.

“Well, it is one of the major five powers in the world, well known for its prosperity and military might. The last king was, I suppose, one of the most powerful men in the world. Not that that helped him much in the end.” Naruto tilted his head.

“What do you mean?”

“He was killed in his own city.” Sasuke replied gravely. “There was a rebellion, and the capital was attacked during a major event. I don't know the details of what happened, but I know they managed to kill the king and take out a large portion of the military stationed there. It was devastating for the country, in many ways, particularly the sudden vulnerability.” He paused, before shrugging slightly. “Luckily, they managed to make it look less disastrous. If the other powers knew of their sudden weakness, they would have been attacked before the new ruler was selected.” He went silent, apparently in deep thought.

“What's the new ruler like?” Naruto asked, absorbing the information eagerly.

“To be honest, I have no idea. I knew the old king, since he was the one who made an alliance with us. If Queen Tsunade is anything like him, she will definitely be a great person.” He turned to Naruto seriously. “My concern is whether she will honour the alliance to the Land of Thunder, or take advantage of the weakened state of the kingdom.” His voice dropped to a murmur. “More importantly, whether she will believe in me, or my brother.”

As Naruto opened his mouth to speak, a sudden crash resounded around the springs from the female side, and after that a noisy splash - followed by loud shrieking.

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Kiba crawled pitifully up to the waiting form of his teammate, wincing as pressure was put onto fresh cuts and bruises. Shino watched him with a raised eyebrow and a disdainful expression.

“How did you manage to fall in?” he asked disapprovingly. Kiba scowled up at him.

“It wasn't my fault that -ow- the wood was rotten.” He growled, dragging himself to his feet. “But thanks for you concern.” Shino shrugged coolly, adjusting his dark glasses.

“Did you find out anything useful?” Kiba shook his head glumly. “Nothing at all?”

“Not much we don't already know.” He replied, sighing, then grinned lopsidedly. “Though apparently they're going to dress Naruto in pink frilly dresses!” he laughed. Shino, however, didn't see the humour.

“Naruto?” he said coldly. Kiba gave him a confused look, before he realised his mistake.

“The uh d-demon that is.” He blurted hastily. Shino narrowed his eyes.

“Don't get personal with the target, Kiba. You know it'll just make this harder.” Kiba nodded, hanging his head. “That's all?” Kiba straightened, thinking hard.

“Well, they are definitely heading for the Land of Fire. Hmm … I think they will be going to Konoha, from what they said.”

“The capital? Must be something to do with the prince.” He paused in thought, before shrugging again. “No matter, we won't let it get that far.” Kiba looked up, frowning.

“What do you mean?”

“If they leave the country, our mission will become a lot more complicated. We have to act before they cross the border.” Kiba nodded slowly as this sunk in.

“Understood.”

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“Kiba a pervert, eh? Never saw that one coming.” Naruto chuckled to himself as they walked.

“Yeah,” Sakura said, shaking her head in disbelief, “I can't stand people who would watch you in the springs like that.”

“I agree,” Sasuke said, smirking. “The worst are the ones who don't even bother to hide it.” Naruto froze beside him, but Sakura and Ino didn't seem to notice, both nodding. He smirked at the furious look from Naruto. The look he had been given at each remark he had made since they had left the hot springs.

“I wonder what pushes them to do stuff like that anyway.” Ino said casually. He knew he just had to take this opportunity presented to him.

“Well they are probably of low intelligence,” he murmured, unaffected by the intensifying glare. “Maybe the upbringing as well - parents are irresponsible, let them do whatever they want,” He smirked slightly, “not bothering to stop them from becoming such immature perverts.” He glanced at Naruto for the glare he knew would come.

What he saw on Naruto's face, however, was not anger, or murderous intent. He looked … confused. Confused and slightly irritated. He watched in surprise as Naruto's face first formed a snarl, and then changed to look quite blank. That was an interesting display of emotion, he thought, bewildered.

Then Naruto looked at him. Sasuke's eyes widened a little at the stare - just like the rest of his face, the eyes were not angry. They were just cold, and a little vacant. Apparently, he was annoyed, and in deep thought. The latter was certainly uncharacteristic for Naruto. Was it something he had said?

Ino cut into this silence from both of them by declaring that they needed to get moving towards the border, having wasted the morning in the village. Nodding in agreement, Sasuke, after having pried her off of his arm, motioned for her and Sakura to take the lead again, and walked beside the still silent Naruto.

The route they needed to take was through a mountainous area, with just a single road leading to the border of the Fire country. Of course, with the ever-present threat of the Imperial Guard and the masked pursuers, a well-travelled and obvious road would not be a viable option.

Thus how they came to be trudging across rocky terrain through the uninhabited countryside, having only a vague idea of which direction they needed to travel.

Sakura and Ino had noticed the strange behaviour of their two companions, and discussed it while they walked, concerned about their precious prince.

“Do you think Naruto is ill or something?” Ino asked uncertainly. Sakura shook her head.

“If he were ill he'd do a lot more complaining. Besides, there is definitely something going on with Sasuke too.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, “like he's worried, and Naruto is mad at him, or something.” Neither of them needed to mention that this was strange behaviour for both of them.

“They were okay before we went to the hot springs.” Sakura murmured thoughtfully. “Maybe something happened there.” Ino shrugged slightly, still looking ahead. Suddenly, both of them stumbled, exchanging an anxious glance. They had both been struck by the same thought of a certain possibility.

They laughed nervously, shrugging it off quickly. It was stupid of course, and not even a possibility. Sasuke and Naruto didn't even like each other that much. Without saying a word, the girls silently agreed that it was a ridiculous idea, and wouldn't be thought of again.

Sasuke watched confusedly as they both looked at him and Naruto warily, and began to find it annoying when the two continued to throw glances at them throughout the journey.

Through the several hours they travelled over the rough ground, Naruto had barely said a word, barely even brightening when he was eating. Any attempt to talk to him resulted in the same cold stare, even if it wasn't as bad as it had been.

Sasuke frowned, watching the blond from the corner of his eye. Shouting and attacks he had anticipated - but silence was definitely the last thing he expected of Naruto, especially an angry Naruto. He refused to acknowledge a new wave of guilt washing over him, instead focusing on the problem.

Maybe he had gone too far with the teasing? Even if that was the case - impassivity was a very unusual reaction. Could it be that Naruto hated him that much? Or just didn't care?

This thought gave him an unpleasant feeling - the feeling being vaguely familiar. He had only known Naruto for a few days, but he had formed a close attachment? It was a shock that there had been an attachment at all. Sasuke hadn't had a genuine close attachment since … Itachi. He hadn't had a real friend since his brother had so badly betrayed the family.

Now, this `friend' probably hated him, or worse, was going to refuse to acknowledge him altogether. The unpleasant feeling in his stomach worsened, and he cursed inwardly when he felt the urge to ask for forgiveness to make it subside.

Itachi, for all of his insane tendencies, was right about one thing - attachments made one weak.

He shivered at the thought of Itachi being right, and hoped it was a one-off. Bringing himself back to the present, he scanned the now darkening landscape. They needed to find a place to stop for the night. Maybe there he could make up with Naruto.

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Naruto followed apathetically as his companions sought shelter for the night. He probably wouldn't be able to sleep - not that he was tired anyway. No matter how hard he tried to push it away, all he could think about was Iruka. What Sasuke had said had made a seemingly endless stream of memories and feelings that he'd bottled up.

Though he couldn't blame the Uchiha completely - he was just being a bastard. The comment about his parents had been hurtful, and unexpected, but Sasuke didn't know about his parents, or anything about his past. He was angry of course, but he didn't want to talk too much, not while he felt like this.

When they stumbled across a small cave to rest for the night, he drew out his makeshift sleeping bag and water flask, intending to be alone at the back of the cave. However, Sasuke, in a surprisingly uncharacteristic move, laid out his own bed beside him, and sat watching him, apparently wanting to talk.

When Naruto finally looked at him directly, he leaned forward almost anxiously.

“Naruto, I'm really sorry about the stuff I said, and I take it back.” Naruto blinked, staring at him in disbelief. An earnest apology? Something was definitely wrong. Could it be that Sasuke actually felt emotions like guilt?

“Uh … yeah … no problem.” Naruto turned away, not wanting to talk further. Sasuke watched his back unhappily, apparently unappeased by the unconvincing acceptance. But, not wanting to push his luck, he lay down, after ordering the girls not to try to sneak any closer to him.

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Naruto woke up covered in sweat, and breathing heavily. It had been a long time since he had had such a vivid nightmare. Although he hadn't recognised the images, he knew that what he had seen were the demon's memories. The thought scared him, but not as much as the nightmare itself. The destruction, the death, and the blood … his head span with the images, and he closed his eyes tightly, causing tears to fall.

“Naruto, are you okay?” Naruto froze. Apparently, Sasuke had been talking to him, and, more alarmingly - was holding him. He opened looked up slowly to meet dark eyes, filled with concern. He could only stare for a moment, barely realising that he was hugging him back tightly.

He opened his mouth to speak, but was assaulted by more images of the demon's memories. His head felt like it was going to burst, pain shooting through it. He could barely breathe, the stuffy atmosphere in the cave suppressing him.

He had to get out, and fast. He pulled away forcefully from the lightly blushing Sasuke, stumbling backwards. Sasuke stood quickly support him, but his hand was swatted away heatedly.

“I was just trying to help, idiot.” Sasuke said irately, though his voice was still laced with concern. Naruto glared up at him, growling. Sakura and Ino had been woken by the noise, and looked on in confusion.

“Huh? Naruto?” Ino murmured sleepily, and looked from the blond to Sasuke and back. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing!” he hollered, clutching his head with one hand. When she attempted to enquire further, he cut her off with another growl, and stomped out of the cave, grabbing his pack.

“Naruto, where are you going?” Sakura asked worriedly.

“To get some fruit or something.” He mumbled in reply, and wandered off, leaving the three in bewilderment.

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Shino and Kiba watched the boy sitting in the tree with a mixture of confusion and elation. He was by himself, picking at the fruit on the tree angrily.

“He's finally alone!” Kiba said incredulously. “What a perfect opportunity!” Shino nodded in agreement, looking around the area suspiciously.

“Maybe it's a trap?” He suggested coolly. Kiba looked around also, before grinning at his teammate.

“Maybe it isn't.” Shino studied the blond thoughtfully, before nodding at Kiba.

Of course, there was the problem of how to approach it. If they did it too directly, they would leave him an option to attempt escape. Also, there was the glaring problem that he was up in a tree, and they were without ranged weapons, and stuck on the ground, therefore at a clear disadvantage.

After much debate, they decided the easiest course of action was for Kiba to coax him down from the tree, and Shino attack him from behind. Satisfied, Kiba made from his hiding place to walk towards the tree. But as he did so, he suddenly froze.

Naruto, who had previously been straining to reach a distant piece of fruit, now waved his arms, trying desperately to balance. Just as it seemed he had righted himself, he slipped, sending him headfirst towards the ground. Kiba watched in sheer disbelief as he spun in the air, hitting his head off of the tree trunk, and landed in an ungraceful pile on the grass below. There he lay, unmoving.

After a minute of staring, Kiba stepped forward tentatively towards him, Shino following his example. When they reached the unconscious boy, they exchanged a look, lost for words from what they had just seen. Naruto had unwittingly done half of their work for them.

Finally, Shino gestured to the sword strapped onto Kiba's back, and he nodded in understanding. Drawing the sword, he approached the demon boy. He pointed the sword towards its chest, and scanned the body thoughtfully

“Tough luck, being a demon, eh?” He said to Shino, who regarded him impassively. “I mean, he didn't ask for it or anything.”

“Are you going to do it?” Kiba frowned at him.

“Of course I am.” He turned back to the blond, raising his sword, and looked down uncertainly. Shino's eye began to twitch as he waited.

“You're stalling.” He said exasperatedly. Kiba looked offended, and shook his head.

“I'm not, I was just … well …” Shino gave a low growl.

“Why don't you do it if you think it's so easy?”

“Are you too scared to do it then?”

“No!” Kiba said indignantly. He turned back determinedly, swallowing.

“Yo!”

Both jumped in shock at the voice from just behind them. They spun around to see a man watching them through one eye - a headband covering the other. The newcomer ran his hand through his silver hair, apparently waiting for some response. Kiba recovered first.

“Kakashi! Don't scare us like that!” The silver-haired man shrugged, eye curving up in a smile.

“Long time eh? Kiba, Shino.” They glared back at him.

“What are you doing here?” Shino asked.

“Well, interesting story that.” He replied easily. At the two scowls directed his way, he gave an unconcerned shrug. “I was in the area, and I ran into Kurenai and Asuma at the village. They told me about your mission.” His eyes flicked to the unconscious boy. “I was heading this way anyway, so they asked me to check up on you.”

They looked unimpressed by the idea of being checked on - especially by a non-member. Kakashi watched them amusedly.

“Well,” he said finally, “it looks like the mission is going well, then?” Kiba glanced down at the sword in his hand, before nodding hurriedly. Shino motioned to the unmoving body.

“Yes, we managed to subdue it effectively.” He responded, giving a meaningful glance at Kiba.

“That's good.” Kakashi said shortly. Sighing, he walked over to Naruto's slumped form, and looked it up and down.

“So,” he murmured to himself, nudging it softly with his foot, “this boy is the vessel of the great Kyuubi.”