Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ When Old Dreams Shatter, New Ones Emerge ❯ Part Four: Feelings and Acceptance ( Chapter 4 )

Part Four: Feelings and Acceptance

 

The next week was semi-peaceful for Naruto. The fan-girls made a few appearances but for the most part it was just missions. Tsunade kept them quite busy as she read more and more of Naru's book. It was almost as if she was testing him to see if he really was as good as the book said. Whatever the reason, Naruto was grateful. She actually gave him some upper-level quick missions. Being constantly busy kept him from doing something he was sure to regret and kept his mind off Sasuke and his other friends. Luckily he had managed to avoid Iruka so far. He wasn't entirely sure but he had an uneasy feeling that if Iruka saw him he would immediately recognize him. And Naruto didn't want to put him in a position where he had to lie to the Hokage.

 

Sasuke was another problem. Naruto had all these feelings for his old friend, feelings that he really didn't understand. And Sasuke was even more unapproachable, at least to him, than he had been when they first met. Naruto still blushed when he remembered what happened on the day they had been separated into teams.

 

Sometimes Naruto would catch Sasuke looking at him with a look in his eyes that he couldn't interpret but reminded him of the look in his eyes when he had first gotten attacked by the fan-girls. He didn't talk very much and he seemed to carry an air of sadness with him where ever he went, no matter what he was doing. From what Naruto had heard, he still hadn't managed to defeat his brother…but he seemed calmer, more willing to wait, patient even. He had truly grown up. Again, Naruto wondered about where he went every night once he thought Naru was asleep.

 

Sakura came around every once in a while, mostly to try and cheer Sasuke up. She was always nice to Naruto, but distant. All in all, everyone but his fan-girls was treating him like an outsider and it was bothering him. It shouldn't, but it was. He hadn't realized how much he actually was accepted…at least by his friends. He wanted to get that back but he really didn't know how. He wasn't the same person he used to be. The only thing he could do was be himself and hope that would be enough. Maybe they could be friends again and he would be able to come back and visit every once in a while.

 

One day, Tsunade gave them the entire day off. Sasuke wanted to go train but couldn't leave Naru alone since it was his assignment to watch him. He had changed his mind about wanting to spar with him. He could hardly stand to be in the same room with the other man without acting on his impulses; he didn't even want to think what could happen if they were that close to each other. So they just sat around the house until Naruto couldn't stand it anymore. He felt that he had shown remarkable self control in not going sooner but he didn't want the others to get too suspicious.

 

“I'm going to get some lunch!” He yelled, marching to the door.

 

Before he could reach the door, Sasuke was standing in front of it, frowning. “I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on you. If you're going anywhere, I'm going too.” He smirked. “Plus, you need someone to protect you from the big, bad girls in case they decide to come back for the pants.” Sasuke felt himself hardening at the thought.

 

Naruto decided that he was going to pout. He didn't get to do it very often anymore and now seemed to be the perfect chance to see if he could still look convincingly pitiful. He put on his sad face. “Sasssssukkkeeeee! I'm soooooo hungry. I can't stand eating any more of that stuff you dare to call food. I need something more substantial…and I've heard that you guys have a great ramen stand here.”

 

Sasuke would be lying if he said that he was completely unfazed by the other man's pitiful expression. But it was the plea for ramen that got him to agree. It reminded him so much of a small blond boy begging him to buy him ramen every time they got done sparring together. “Okay, we'll go. But afterwards I want to get some training done so we need to go by Sakura's and get her.”

 

Naruto's face instantly brightened. “Yay! Raaaameeeeen! Let's go!” Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand, ignoring the little shock that went up his arm, and sprinted out the door towards Ichiraku Ramen Bar.

 

Inutaisho was strolling down the street, ignoring for the moment the numerous admiring stares he was getting from the female half of the population, when he saw Naruto dragging a man that looked remarkably like the Sasuke Uchiha that he had met the day he had attacked the village. He couldn't help but smile at the image. He had only talked to Naruto a few times since that day but he could tell he was becoming less and less the detached hero of the nine lands and more of the boy he had heard stories about. He had known staying here for a while would do Naruto some good. He went back to walking. He had a temperamental Jonin who seemed to want nothing to do with him to charm.

 

As for Sasuke, try as he might to get annoyed at the large blond man for dragging him around, he couldn't. Not when he reminded him so much of his best friend. Naruto would have liked him. They were so alike in their love for ramen and even some of their mannerisms…even their names were similar. But there were plenty of differences between the two. Naru was calmer at times and didn't have the flare for drama Naruto had had. Naru didn't speak carelessly and always guarded his words in the presence of others, although he seemed more open with Sasuke. But most glaring of the differences was that Naru was alive…and Naruto was dead. Sasuke pushed the anger and sadness that always possessed him when he thought of his friend to the back of his mind. He had gotten really good at that over the years as he had had plenty of practice.

 

They finally managed to make it to Ichiraku's where Naruto stopped for a moment and closed his eyes to take in the delicious smells that he had missed for far too long. His mouth watered. No matter where he went, he had never found anything that could compare with the ramen served here. Maybe it was the feeling of acceptance he got whenever he had come here as a kid. The owner and his daughter were two of the too few people who had always had a kind word for him and accepted him even knowing that he had a demon inside him. He would always remember that.

 

Naruto let go of Sasuke's hand and slowly made his way to the stool at the counter, still with his eyes closed, letting his nose and memory lead the way. This was one of the few times where he completely abandoned his other senses and totally forgot about his surroundings, neglecting to even keep his senses open for danger. It was a good thing he was surrounded by semi-friendly shinobi in the middle of the village with an Anbu captain at his heels or who knows what could have happened.

 

He sat down, continuing to keep his eyes closed. Sasuke sat down next to him waiting impatiently for the other man to say something. “Are you going to fall asleep like that or are you going to order? After you dragged me all the way here you could at least hurry up and eat so I can go train.”

 

Naruto slowly opened his eyes after one last smell. He turned to smile at Sasuke. “I wanted to savor this. I've never smelled anything in all my travels that could compare with this.” He picked up the menu and pretended to study it. Everything on that menu was permanently branded in his brain from all the times he had eaten here. The only thing he had to do was decide which flavor he wanted. He looked over all the items on the menu with tears in his eyes. How was he expected to choose just one? They all were so good! He had a sudden idea. He grabbed his wallet and quickly counted his money. Okay, so he would have to stay here for a little while longer than he had planned, but in all honesty he wasn't in any hurry to leave anyway. He took a deep breath. “OLD MAN!” he yelled.

 

Teuchi stumbled out of the kitchen hurriedly to see who was yelling for him. For a moment he had thought Naruto had come back from the dead to haunt him into giving him ramen. This guy even looked like him. But it wasn't possible because Naruto was dead and was never coming back. I never even got to tell him how much I enjoyed his company. But that was all in the past now and there was nothing he could do about it. He walked over to the counter to take the newcomer's order. “Hey, Sasuke, who's your friend?” Sasuke had been one of his best customers for about two years after Naruto's death before he had gotten sick one day after eating a bowl. He had confessed that he really didn't like ramen and only came to there in order to feel close to Naruto (he only admitted this reluctantly). From that day on Teuchi always kept some fresh fruit there for Sasuke for whenever he came. He missed the little troublemaker, too.

 

Sasuke had a lot of respect for the old man so he answered him more politely than he would if someone else had asked. “This is Naru. I'm supposed to watch him while he's in the village. He's the guy who beat that demon that attacked.”

 

Naruto was surprised at the many words that flowed from Sasuke's mouth. Normally he would just `Hn' and leave Naruto to answer the question. To his knowledge, Sasuke didn't really like ramen very much so he really had no reason to come after Naruto was no longer around to drag him here. From what he had seen, Sasuke hadn't changed that much.

 

Teuchi smiled at Naru and shook his hand. “Well, I guess I and the rest of the village owe you our lives. Anything you want is on the house.”

 

Naruto smiled, embarrassed. “Don't be ridiculous. If you did that you would go out of business. I'm going to order a bowl of everything on the menu! You have no idea how long it's been since I've had a decent bowl of ramen. I need to make up for lost time!”He leaned forward as if whispering a secret. “Plus, I've heard this place has the best ramen in the whole world! Could I know for sure if I didn't try a little of everything?”

 

Teuchi laughed, flattered. “You know that's going to be a lot of money. I say we compromise: I'll give you the hero's discount!” He ignored the fact that he had no such discount or he would probably have to give one to the entire village at one point or another. There was just something about this guy that he liked. “If you're going to order everything on the menu, though, I should probably get back there in the kitchen and get cookin'. The usual, Sasuke?”

 

Sasuke nodded absently, wanting nothing more than to get this over with so he could start training. As long as he concentrated on fighting, he should be able to ignore the feelings he experienced around Naru.

 

Naruto turned to Sasuke when Teuchi went back to the kitchen rubbing his hands together in anticipation of the challenge of making everything on the menu in so short a time. “You actually eat here Sasuke? You don't seem the type to like ramen. You seem more the sushi type to me.”

 

Sasuke shot him a look of annoyance. “Not that it's any of your business but as a matter of fact, I don't really care for ramen. Teuchi keeps some fresh fruit here for me when I come by.”

 

Naruto decided to leave it at that. Sasuke seemed to be getting depressed for some reason. “I don't see how anyone can not like ramen. It's the best food in the world!” Naruto pumped his hand in the air, looking ridiculously like Lee and Gai, drawing stares from the people going up and down the street.

 

Sasuke glared at the idiot in front of him. “Put your hand down, baka. You look ridiculous.”

 

Naruto put his fist down and turned to glare at Sasuke. “Don't call me a baka, bastard!”

 

Sasuke stood up, standing chest-to-chest with Naruto. “Don't act like one and I won't have to call you one.”

 

“Bastard!”

 

“Baka!”

 

“Bastard!”

 

Sasuke suddenly noticed just how close their faces were to each other and how harsh their breathing was. He immediately began to feel more warm and not from anger. He pushed Naru away from him. “Oh, this is so stupid! Stop acting so childish.”

 

“You started it! You shouldn't have called me a baka!”

 

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort but was pushed out of the way when Naruto saw ten bowls of ramen were waiting for him.

 

Teuchi sat the bowls down on the counter. “This is the first batch. I'll have some more ready in about five min-…utes.” Teuchi watched in amazement. Naruto reached for his chopsticks with reverence and slowly brought the first bite of ramen to his lips, barely exposed by a little slit in his mask for just this purpose. He slowly chewed with a look of complete ecstasy on what little they could see of his face. He then opened his eyes and reached for another bite. Teuchi blinked and all ten bowls were empty with Naruto sitting back licking his fingers. Teuchi could only think of one thing to say. “Wow.” He suddenly jerked himself out of his stupor and ran back into the kitchen, eager to see him do that again.

 

Naruto did the same thing with all the other bowls of ramen that Teuchi brought. When he had finished the last bowl, he sat back in his chair with his hands on his stomach, content. “I think that I'm actually full.” He said in amazement.

 

The crowd that had gathered cheered. Naruto started and looked around having not noticed what a crowd his ramen eating spree had drawn. Immediately his face turned a bright red, looking for all the world like he had a third degree sunburn, quite a feat considering how tan he was.

 

He threw some money on the counter, adjusted his mask so it wouldn't come open when he talked, grabbed Sasuke's hand, who was looking at Naruto like he was from another planet, and, almost as quickly as he had eaten the ramen, high-tailed it out of there. Before Sasuke knew what had happened they were in front of Sakura's house on the other side of the village and knocking on her door.

 

Sakura cautiously opened the door as if expecting them to attack her. When she saw it was them, she threw open the door and jerked both of them inside. She then slammed the door shut and threw on three separate locks in quick succession and finished with a huge board to complete the barricade. She leaned against the door with a sigh and then glared at them. “What do you want? Can't you see that I'm trying to hide from a certain man/boy/idiot who refuses to accept the fact that I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those green monstrosities he finds so fashionable? Well, how could you know what it's like? He isn't trying to drag you to the store and force you to try one on. Can you imagine? He actually thinks I will go quietly! He's obviously forgotten just how badly I beat him up last time he got it in his head to try and get me to do something stupid and wouldn't take no for an answer. Well, I'll just have to show him again then!” She had been cracking her knuckles all through her speech but now she punched a hole through the wall. Sakura, now the picture of serenity, took her hand from the hole, absently shaking the sheetrock off, to examine the wall critically. “I'll have to get that fixed later.” She turned back to face them, considerably calmer. “Now, what did you want? Would you like some tea? Or I could fix you guys some lunch; I doubt that Sasuke has anything edible in his house.” She looked at them expectantly.

 

If it hadn't been for his mask, Naruto's mouth would probably be full of flies. He had forgotten just how quickly Sakura's moods could change. And what was so bad about the green unitards? He remembered his first one fondly. Too bad Jiraiya refused to allow him to wear it. He shook his head to clear it. “Thanks, Sakura-chan, but we just ate. We just wanted to see if you wanted to go train with us.”

 

Sakura nodded enthusiastically. “That's great! This gives me an excuse not to go with Lee without hurting his feelings…or his head,” she muttered darkly. She brightened. “Let's go!” She grabbed her keys and then both their hands to pull them out the door.

 

Unfortunately Lee was outside with Ino, who wasn't going to miss seeing her best friend either a) completely humiliate herself by doing what Lee wanted, or b) beat Lee to a bloody pulp; either was fine with her and would sure to be entertaining.

 

Lee immediately ran up to Sakura with hearts in his eyes. “My love, were you so eager to go shopping with me that you could not bear to wait for me to come to you? I doubt I can make you look any more splendid than you already do but I cannot help but look forward to seeing us in matching outfits for others to look at and admire. We shall be the talk of the village!”

 

Naruto giggled softly, eyeing Sakura's huge breasts. “They certainly would be the talk of the village.” Luckily none of them got what he was referring to.

 

His words drew Ino's eyes to the tall blond behind Sakura in the doorway. She immediately blushed. He was even more handsome than she remembered! And it was all over the village about just who he was, so she knew she was right about his resemblance to the famed hero. And now she didn't have to worry about her future husband being weak. He was strong enough to defeat demons and knew more jutsu than Kakashi! She stared off into space, thinking about how cute their blond children would be when they got married, not even noticing the drool rolling down her chin.

 

Sakura was just telling Lee about her unfortunate plans with Naru and Sasuke that she had completely forgotten about, when she noticed the look on Ino's face. She cut off in the middle of the explanation and went forward to wave a hand in front of her best friend's face. It didn't faze her. Sakura sighed. She had thought Ino had gotten over her Sasuke fixation, but evidently she had been mistaken. She turned around to see what had caused this sudden renewal of interest. Okay, she could see why Ino could be driven into a relapse. She hadn't noticed it at first but Sasuke's eyes seemed to have developed a certain spark that had been missing from them for a long time. She had no idea what had put it there but she was happy for her friend and didn't want Ino to spoil it by reopening her campaign for Sasuke's heart. She pulled her friend off to the side and snapped her out of her daze. “Wipe the drool off, Ino-pig. I thought you got over your crush on Sasuke a long time ago. What's with this sudden relapse?”

 

Ino sighed at being interrupted from her Naru-induced trance before turning to look at Sakura, confused. “What about Sasuke?” she looked back at the door where Naru was standing, staring at them, and for the first time noticed Sasuke standing beside him looking bored, as usual. She glanced back at Naru, sighed longingly, and then turned back to Sakura with disappointment. “I didn't even notice that Sasuke was there. It's Naru who is going to be the future father of my babies.” She said dreamily.

 

Sakura rolled her eyes. She should have expected this. If her affections weren't…otherwise engaged, she would probably have been after him too. And why not? The rest of the village girls seemed to be. She gave a sigh and walked back to the boys. She had to remember to warn Naru about Ino. She really didn't know the masked man very well, but she was confident that he didn't deserve to have Ino stalking him. “So, as I was just saying, Naru, Sasuke, and I are going to go train for a while so I can't go shopping with you.”

 

That knocked Ino out of her stupor. She rushed over to stand beside Naru, latching onto his arm possessively. “I need to train too! I haven't had much time lately with all the missions I've been getting. I would just love to be your sparring partner, Naru-kun. I can call you Naru-kun, can't I?”

 

Naruto laughed nervously, scratching his head. What had gotten into her? “Sure, but I was actually looking forward to kicking Sasuke's ass. But Sakura doesn't have a partner. Why don't you team up with her?”

 

Ino frowned, disappointed. “I guess that would be okay.” At least she would get to spend some time with him.

 

Lee was very disappointed. It seemed he would not be getting to spend any time with his beloved today. “I really wanted to spend the day with you. But I guess it cannot be helped if you have other plans. I will have to see if Gai-sensei wants to run five hundred laps around the village with me.” He turned around, tears in his eyes and chin to chest. All in all, the very picture of dejection.

 

Sakura sighed, feeling guilty. “I guess I can let you take me to dinner tonight to make up for it. But you should know that, under no circumstances, will I ever wear one of those things.”

 

Lee immediately brightened and leapt at Sakura to give her a big hug. “Thanks Sakura! I shall go prepare for this evening!” He then skipped happily down the street towards his house, once again confident that all was right with the world, or at least his world.

 

Sakura shook her head at his retreating figure. “I have no idea what I'm going to do with him.” She turned back to her friends and Naru. “Let's go!” They left, Sakura leading the way.

 

Naruto followed her, wondering what it would be like to spar with Sasuke again. He was bound to have improved since they last fought; after all, he was an Anbu captain now. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

 

Sasuke, meanwhile, was slightly nervous. He had no idea how he was going to stand it if he got too close to Naru. The only thing for him to do was to make sure that Naru never got close enough to feel what he did to him. He still didn't know what to make of the other man. He seemed to be a mass of contradictions. He was a living legend, but he certainly didn't act like it, nor did he seem to have enough chakra for it to be so. And he refused to believe he could somehow hide his chakra from both his Sharingan and Neji's Byakuya. He couldn't help but look forward to sparing with Naru a little though. He would finally get to see what he was made of.

 

Ino brought up the end of the group, every so often bumping into people because she was too busy watching her blond, supposedly future husband to watch where she was going. Her thoughts were filled with all their future dates leading up to their wedding day. She would of course look beautiful and be the envy of all the other women there. She was so wrapped up in her fantasy that she didn't even realize they had reached the training ground until she ran into Sakura's back.

 

Naruto stopped when Sakura did and looked around. This place sure brought back memories. This was the field where they officially became Team 7 and genin. It was where he and Sasuke had sparred so often. It was also the spot where he had lost almost all of said sparring matches. At least this time would be different. He was no longer the same dobe anymore, at least when it came to fighting and the ninja arts. He didn't think it would be fair to use all his abilities on Sasuke or the fight would be over way too soon, so he decided to use his chakra only for defense and only when absolutely necessary. No special jutsu. He wouldn't use his demon senses at all.

 

Ino and Sakura got into their battle stances. Naruto and Sasuke moved off a little farther into the field and squared off too.

 

Naruto waited for Sasuke to make the first move. He didn't have to wait long. The other ninja immediately raced forward and threw a punch at him. Naruto easily caught it and blocked a kick aimed at his stomach. Sasuke leapt away and performed the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Immediately about twenty newly formed Sasukes leapt at Naruto. Naruto couldn't help the expression of delight that crossed his face, apparent even through his mask. He knew Sasuke wouldn't disappoint him! He would finally get a decent workout. He used his speed to dodge all of their kicks and punches, but didn't go on the offensive. He just kept up the pace and tried to find the real Sasuke. It didn't take him long, but to another ninja it would have been almost impossible. They all had similar amounts of chakra placed in them and the real Sasuke was only slightly different. He heard a crash to his left and turned his attention to the other fight, still managing to keep up his defense while observing Sakura and Ino. They had both improved dramatically. The crash that he had heard was Sakura's punch landing on a tree, snapping the trunk like a twig. Ino had managed to dodge the punch and threw several kunai at Sakura. They hit her and there was a pop and when the smoke cleared the kunai were buried in a piece of wood and Sakura came up behind Ino and kicked her feet out from under her.

 

All of the sudden, Naruto's attention was brought back to his fight when the real Sasuke somehow managed to clip his cheek. Sasuke glared at him and, with a pop, all his clones disappeared. “You are fighting me, so keep your attention on me and cease ogling the girls!”

 

Naruto glared back, his hand on his faintly stinging cheek. “I'm not ogling the girls! All I was doing was watching them fight since you obviously are too inept to give me much of a challenge. So get your mind out of the gutter and fight!”

 

Sasuke went into a rage. How dare this guy insult him like that! He was the best ninja in Konahagature! His Sharingan activated seemingly of its own accord and he leapt at his house guest.

 

Naruto resisted the urge to grin. This sure brought back memories! Except it was usually Sasuke giving the insults and Naruto flying into a rage. Naruto decided he liked this reversal of roles much better.

 

He probably should have been paying more attention to his surroundings. Maybe then he would have seen the kunai flying at Sasuke long enough beforehand to do more than just jump in front of them. But that was all he had time to do. When he saw the familiar flashes of black flying through the air, he didn't think, he just reacted. He leapt forward and pushed Sasuke to the ground, covering him with his body before Sasuke could even register that he had moved. Sasuke got the breath knocked out of him but was otherwise okay. Then he realized what had happened, or what he thought had happened. The other man had been toying with him! He could have ended their fight at any time with his speed alone but all he had done was dodge Sasuke's attacks. But then his indignation slowly faded away when he became aware of the fact that every inch of his body was covered by the object of his dreams from the past week. He felt himself growing harder with each second that the blond man stayed on top of him. This wasn't how it was supposed to be! He did the only thing that an Uchiha who was faced with the possibility of embarrassment could do: he threw off the other man before he could notice what he was doing to him. Only when he heard a soft, pain-filled groan did he realize that Naru had somehow gotten hurt. But he must have been mistaken because a supposedly wounded man couldn't disappear as fast as Naru did before the groan was even finished.

 

Sakura and Ino ran over to Sasuke to make sure he was all right. Sakura immediately checked him over with her chakra before giving him a tight hug with tears in her eyes. She thanked Kami that he was alright. She didn't think she could bear to lose another friend. “I'm so glad that you're okay.”

 

Sasuke was confused. Then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye and turned to look. About ten kunai littered the ground. How had they gotten there? He turned back to Sakura and shrugged out of her embrace. “Why wouldn't I be okay? And where did that idiot run off to? We haven't finished our fight. And what are all those kunai doing on the ground?”

 

Sakura and Ino glanced at each other. Sakura finally answered. “You were attacked, Sasuke. Naru pushed you out of the way before any of those kunai could touch you.” Sakura frowned. “But I don't know why you didn't notice them in the first place. For that matter, why didn't I notice them? And I could have sworn that they landed in Naru's back but there isn't a speck of blood on those.”

 

Sasuke activated his Sharingan and looked over the knives, seeing traces of the dissipating chakra that had been used on them. It was a complicated genjutsu, masking all signs of the kunai's passage through the air and towards their target. He explained all this to the two girls and deactivated his Sharingan just as Naru came back looking extremely annoyed. Sasuke glared at him, not used to having someone saving his life and not sure how to act. Especially given his thoughts just after Naru tackled him. “Where have you been?”

 

Naruto glared back at him. “I went to see if I could find who threw those kunai. Where did you think I was going? Too bad they got away.” And too bad their scent disappeared so suddenly before I had a chance to tag them. They must have teleported. He calmed and checked Sasuke over with his eyes and chakra, making sure he was uninjured. “How are you doing? Are you injured?” he asked softly, despite the fact that he couldn't find anything wrong with him with his chakra. He needed to hear the words from Sasuke that he was alright.

 

Sasuke, meanwhile, was mesmerized by the look in the other man's eyes. They were soft and seemed to be conveying an emotion that Sasuke had rarely seen before. It touched something inside him and he felt compelled to respond in kind but had no idea how to. He didn't know what was happening to him. For the first time in his life, he wanted to take someone in his arms and assure them that he was fine. He didn't know what to say so he decided to let Sakura answer for him.

 

Sakura started to assure him that Sasuke was alright but Naruto stopped her, seeing that Sasuke wasn't going to answer him and being unable to break eye contact with him.

 

Sakura and Ino were watching the byplay between the two with mute fascination. Sakura wanted to thank the tall blond for rescuing her friend but didn't want to interrupt the moment between the two. Could this mean what she thought it meant? If so, she was glad. The guy already had her acceptance and gratitude for saving Sasuke at the risk of his own life. She frowned again. She could have sworn those kunai had hit him.

 

Ino was rapidly starting to lose hope that her happy future with Naru would be happening. She reluctantly said goodbye to her cute blond children. It was a good thing she thought that Naru and Sasuke were so cute together or she would have been completely crushed. At least this was an ego booster. Both men who had seemed to have no interest in her that she went after also seemed to be gay, so it wasn't anything to do with her. She would just have to make sure she chose a straight guy next time. She turned to Sakura and whispered, “Do you think that we should leave them alone? It was probably just some kids practicing out here and ran away after seeing what happened. They were probably afraid of getting in trouble.”

 

Sakura nodded even though she doubted that was the case, not that she thought Ino believed it either. She would just talk with Sasuke about it later. After all, he was perfectly capable of taking care if himself so she didn't need to worry over him like a mother hen. They quietly left the training area, leaving the two men alone.

 

Sasuke broke eye contact first. “So, why did you save me? You can't say that I'm actually your friend. More like prison guard.” Not that I wouldn't like ot be more than that. Sasuke shoved that thought out of his head the second he thought it, though he absolutely refused to dwell on why it disturbed him so.

 

Naruto continued to gaze at Sasuke quietly. You're my best friend, even if I have been away for eight years. But he didn't say that aloud. “I still consider you my friend. But, hey, I'm a protector by nature. Saving people is what I do.” He paused. “Do you have any idea who could have thrown those kunai?”

 

Sasuke shook his head. He had many enemies but most of them wanted to beat him outright, not by throwing kunai at his back. Sasuke got up and brushed himself off, still refusing to look at Naru. “I guess we should go report this to the Hokage.”

 

Naruto nodded, lost in thought. They started walking back towards the village. Who would want Sasuke dead? All the women loved him and the men…Well, most of them didn't love him but none of them wanted him dead enough to pull something like this. Itachi came to mind but he expected Sasuke to come looking for him, not the other way around. No one person really stood out.

 

They went into the building and were waved into the Hokage's office. Tsunade was sitting at her desk, sleeping. Her face was flat on the desk, drooling all over the mission reports she was using as a pillow. She seemed to have fallen asleep signing papers because her pen was still in her hand and there was a big splotch of ink where the point was poised. Shizune took all this in at a glance, including the sake bottle tucked underneath the desk, and, rolling her eyes, walked over to stand beside the Hokage and leaned over to yell in her ear. “TSUNADE-SAMA!!!” Tsunade jerked her head up and looked around wildly. Shizune continued, “You have guests.” Then she walked out of the room to get back to work.

 

Tsunade rubbed her eyes and scowled at the spot where the ink had leaked through the paper and stained her desk. There were numerous similar staines all around this new stain, indicating that this had happened before. She finally gave them her full attention. “Well, what do you want?”

 

They ignored her rude tone. Evidently Tsunade wasn't in the best of moods when she first woke up, or at any other time for that matter. They told her what had transpired in the training field. Tsunade was just as puzzled as they were and was more than slightly alarmed that one of her most powerful, if not the most powerful, Jonin couldn't sense the kunai so intent on being buried in his back. Only an extremely powerful ninja would be able to accomplish that. She warned Sasuke to be on his guard. “Unfortunately there isn't anything we can do until he or she makes another move. Sasuke, wait outside while I speak with Naru for a moment.” Sasuke left and Tsunade turned back to Naruto. “Listen, I know you think that I don't trust you, but that's really not the case. Right now you're the only person I can trust to watch out for Sasuke, even though he will protest til the end of time if he knows that's what you're doing. So I'm going to let him continue to guard you when I actually want you to be protecting him. Think of it as an undercover mission. It's the only way to make sure he keeps you around where you can keep an eye on him. I have it on good authority that he goes out almost every night since you started staying with him. I'm sure you're aware that he put a jutsu around the Uchiha grounds that would alert him if you left?” Naruto nodded. “Well, I don't want him to leave anymore. If he tries to leave, either follow him or stop him. You can disturb the jutsu if all else fails.” Tsunade instructed. “I don't think what he's doing is all that healthy anyways,” she muttered under her breath before continuing. “If the guy who did this tries anything again, try to avoid killing him so I can question him.” She dismissed him only to gasp as she saw his back. “What the hell happened to your shirt!”

 

Naruto glanced back at her, slightly surprised that he had been so careless as to forget he had taken all those kunai in the back. And after he had gone to so much trouble making the others think he hadn't been hit. This thing with Sasuke must have him more worried than he realized. He thought fast. “I just didn't want anyone to worry. I healed them with some medical jutsu I learned in my travels. When you fight the beings that I do, you need to be healed more often than normal people so it just made sense to learn those type of jutsu as well. I didn't have time to block the kunai; I only just had time to shove Sasuke out of the way. I forgot about the rips in my shirt.” He reached into his void and grabbed another one to put on. “I'm just glad that you saw it before someone else. I don't fancy having to explain this to Sasuke if he should see it. It's not like me to be so careless.”

 

Tsuande stared at him, not having encountered anyone like him for a long time. “But you could have died, should have died, with that many wounds in your back! Why would you risk your life for someone that you barely even know?”

 

He gave her the same answer that he had given Sasuke. “It's what I do. And I wasn't really risking my life. I knew I could heal myself before I lost too much blood as long as they didn't follow up with another attack and by then the others would have been ready. Besides, Sasuke's my host. If he died who would I stay with?”

 

Tsuande smiled, respect shining in her eyes. “I'm sure there are at least a hundred girls out there in the village who would love to give you an answer to your question. But Sasuke isn't dead and will probably stay that way if you continue to watch him. Try to keep him busy. It will keep him from suspecting anything and might tire him out too much to leave at night without you.” Naru left her office.

 

Tsunade sat back in her chair, thinking. There was something about that boy…

 

*********************************break*************************** ******

 

Hey guys!

 

Thank you to all who reviewed. And keep in mind that I will finish this fic. If I don't update for a couple of months, know that I'm probably just really busy and I will post something if I ever decide to discontinue this fic (I really don't see this happening though as I have a plan for how this story will go and I have plans for a sequel). Actually there will have to be a sequel given how this story will end. I just hope that you all will stick with this story long enough to read the sequel.

 

BYE!!!