Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ With arms wide open ❯ An unexpected encounter ( Chapter 8 )

A/N: I know i've said so before, but - FINALLY. An update, yes. Who would have thought? To speak truthfully, i had to reread all of WAWO to get back on track with the plotline.

I still thank, and will keep on thanking each time, all the readers and reviewers who have been unimaginably supportive. God bless you.

Enjoy!


Thoughts are in italic

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Chapter VIII - An unexpected encounter



For three days Naruto refused to see any healers. Never being a fan of doctors, he made it perfectly clear that they will have to knock him unconscious to make him undergo any kind of treatment. At first, Tsunade attributed his behavior to a fleeting depression, but when Naruto broke a healer's hand when the latter had tried to cover him with another blanket, she knew there was more to this than simple melancholy and self-pity.

Hence, she now stood in front of the blond's door. She could hear rustling on the other side of the door and somewhat hurried footsteps. At least no one's screaming, she thought with a sigh and knocked twice. The footsteps stopped abruptly and for a moment or two there was no sound except of the wind's soft howl in the hospital hallway.

"Naruto? May i come in?" she asked, but opened the door without waiting for the boy's response.

Slowly entering the room, the first thing Tsunade noticed was the green patient-gown lying in the middle of the room. Frowning, she glanced in the direction where Naruto usually lay.
The said boy, now fully dressed in something gray and very bloody, sat on the corner of an unmade bed. He had an equally bloody kunai in his hands, and he was staring at it as though it held the answers to the thousand questions running through his mind.

Something very familiar to pity gripped the Hokage's heart. Wisely, she didn't show it.
She stayed silent for another moment, watching the boy pass the dirty weapon from one hand to the other, as if searching for some ancient writing that will reveal how did that ordinary knife managed to hurt him so badly.

Minutes ticked away, and the movement of Naruto's hands only grew more frantic. Seeing the look of concentration transform to distress on the boy's face, Tsunade decided to speak.

"We didn't have time to wash those," she said matter of factly and nodded toward the boy.

"It doesn't matter now," he answered and looked up at the Hokage, "it's better this way. Besides," he added, standing up and looking down at his clothes, "i kind of like the color scheme."

"Naruto..." the fifth began, but Naruto already tuned her out. He tuck the kunai into his pocket, blabbering about bribing Iruka into buying him ramen as a reward for staying in the Hospital, completely confined to the bed.

That's Naruto for you. Always has a smile and a cheerful attitude within an arm's reach. I wish you were facing your feelings instead of hiding them, Tsunade thought and forced one of her own smiles as Naruto made some idiotic remark and grinned at her, i wish we could face them together, just like we used to, and not play these fake games.

'But Naruto needs this', she keeps telling herself, Naruto needs to be able to fool people with his smiles, so that they will never see his weaknesses. It is enough that hatred is directed at him, and by showing people that he too has his downs will only add pity to the list.

"Why not ask Sasuke?" Tsunade said nonchalantly. She had no idea where this remark came from, and she knew it was cruel to play with Naruto's feelings this way, but she wanted to know whether it was Sasuke's disappearance that drained him or his own mysterious condition. If words won't tell, reactions will.

Naruto's grin faded at Tsunade's seemingly harmless question, and he held her gaze for what felt like forever before turning away.

"Hokage-sama, i will only repeat this once more - Sasuke is dead," the shinobi spoke, his fake cheerful tone replaced by a very sincere and cold one, "and whatever memories he left behind are best forgotten. If you have nothing more to add, no mission for me to accomplish, i would like to go home and rest."

He then faced the Fifth, and judging by the look in her eyes, his confession was unexpected to say the least. Maybe five years ago he would have gone to search for Sasuke again, but not today.

Today everything was different, and Naruto finally admitted it to himself. He realized that you cannot save those who do not wish to be saved, and you can't turn the sinners into saints. His innocent view of the world and the people living in it was replaced by harsh realism, crashing any hopes he ever built.

In his twenty-one years of living, Naruto learned to face the facts - No matter what he did, he will never become a Hokage nor will he ever be recognized as anything more than the monster he was. And with the odd new chakra possessing him, that title suits him even better.

To Naruto, Sasuke represented all that went wrong in his life. He was very similar to Naruto, and at the same time so very different from him. He was the weakness Naruto refused to part with and the strong point he feared to lose. He was the bastard and the best friend.
At the end, the one annihilated the other and Sasuke, the friend and the foe, was no more.

But still, after all those years, the blond didn't understand the reason for Sasuke's behavior. Why would he help Naruto heal, and the next moment hurt him even more? Why would he come back and leave again, gain Naruto's trust only to betray it? Was it some sick game he enjoyed to play in his free time? The blond mused as he walked out of the hospital, suddenly exhausted.

Naruto was lost. Was he hurt more by Sasuke's presence or disappearance? A voice calling his name distracted him from his musing. A girl's voice.

"Naruto! Naruto guess what?" the blond girl ran toward him, her hands flailing franticly to get his attention. Temari was the last person Naruto wanted to see right now, and he contemplated walking away as if he hadn't heard her. But the girl was watching him like a hawk, and it's true that it was hard not to notice her. He sighed.

"Temari, you seem awfully full of energy for someone who just got back from an A rank mission."

The girl managed to stop short of crashing into Naruto, smiling that mysterious smile of hers. If she noticed the bloody uniform Naruto was wearing, she didn't comment on it.

"If you had any idea whom i met on my way here, you would have gotten an energy boost as well."

That made Naruto wonder. Whomever the girl met, it must be someone beyond one's imagination to leave her in this state. Intrigued, Naruto decided to spend some time with the girl. A bowl of ramen and an unusual company may prove to be a good way to get back to my normal life, he thought and smiled lightly at the girl.

"Why don't you tell me all about it over a bowl of ramen? My treat."

The girl's stomach gave a gurgling sound, and Naruto took it as a yes.


...


"And then i saw a tall, dark haired shinobi making his way toward some old oak tree," the girl went on as she ordered her third bowl. Naruto just started his second, his unreasonable fascination with ramen faded years ago and he missed it now, seeing the girl enjoy the meal so much.

"Let me guess," he suddenly interrupted, "it was someone you haven't seen for ages and you literally jumped on him when he was within an arm's reach."

Temari gave him a surprised look, which effect was doubled by the noodles hanging from her lips to the point when Naruto could no longer contain his laughter. Slurping the remaining of her third bowl, Temari sat up straight and stretched her arms.

"Precisely. God, that was a great meal," she said and slumped in the chair, "thank you for inviting me, Naruto."

When Naruto finished his second bowl and started to get up, the girl hopped off the chair and leaned to lay a quick kiss on his cheek. Taken by surprise, Naruto shut his eyes, awaiting the unthinkable pain in his chest. But it never came. When he oepened his eyes again the girl was far ahead of him.

"Oi Temari!" he called after the quickly retreating girl, "who was that guy you met, anyway?"

"Oh!," the girl turned and smiled brightly at Naruto, "it was Sasuke. Sasuke!"
With that said, she giggled and ran off.

Hearing that name pronounced for the second time today, Naruto felt his heart stop. Sasuke... in Konoha forest. It can't be! He was holding his breath, afraid that he will explode if he let it out.
I must find him. I must bring him ba-- no, Naruto berated himself. No, no! He exhaled sharply and shut his eyes, refusing to cry. Feeling air deprived, he ran off, his sense of hearing alone guiding him through Konoha's busy streets.

"Naruto! Your change!" Teuchi, the owner of the ramen stand, called. But Naruto ignored him. All he heard was the thousand thoughts running through his head and his own deafening heartbeats. He was an emotional mess, and the cause for that was probably in Konoha forest at this very moment.

The feelings of hurt and betrayal were resurfacing. Hate. Naruto hated Sasuke right now more than he ever did, and Kyuubi was growling in his head. Revenge..., it purred and the pain in Naruto's chest was back.
But he didn't stop.
He just clenched his teeth, biting his tongue in the process and rode the painful wave. He didn't know where his feet were taking him. He seemed to have lost all control over his body and mind, the only undeniable truth that existed for him was the hurt - in his heart and mind.

Surprisingly, Naruto suddenly stopped. Opening his eyes, he noticed that he was mere inches away from a very odd looking tree. The surroundings told Naruto he was in the forest, though he could swear he was running in the opposite direction just moments ago.

There was tall figure leaning against the odd tree. He was wearing a uniform similar to the one Sasuke wore on their last encounter, much like Naruto himself. How ironic, the blond thought with horror. The masked man standing few feet away from him didn't move. And at first Naruto thought he was seeing things, an oasis in the desert.

"Sasuke...?" the blond tried, his voice wavering. And if it was Sasuke? What will he say? How will he approach him? Should he even?

The man at question gave a quite laugh, and Naruto felt his blood drain from his face. He could recognize that laughter anywhere.

"Not quite," the tall man hissed and slowly took off his mask. An evil grin plastered on a naturally pale face greeted Naruto, making him gulp audibly.

Even after countless battles, Orochimaru was still as terrifying as ever.




TBC...?


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A/N: So... what do you think?