Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Naruto always knew he wasn't like all other kids. He wasn't allowed to do the things they did. People would kick him out of their shops, look at him and whisper between themselves when he walked by, some even telling him what they think to his face. But he can't recall what could have happened for everyone to despise him. What could have he done to deserve this? Wondering didn't help at all—what would possibly change with that knowledge? Even if he had known all this time, it all would stay the same. There's no reason to ponder whether it would be easier to live knowing why everyone around him hated his guts. What if it's a stupid reason and they're just lashing out on him in the name of a meaningless cause? Maybe they just need a scapegoat for all their anger, and he just happens to be the most suitable? After all, there's no one that would defend him, no one he could turn to.

No one was interested in him enough to care about him, so his only hope lay in gaining their attention by more or less inconveniencing them. That seemed to be the only thing capable of making people admit his existence. Friendly or not, he wanted their eyes on him. If he was pulling foolish pranks all day, someone would surely turn their face to him and talk. He didn't care if their words weren't in any bit affectionate, as long as he heard people talk about him.

Now was a perfect opportunity to cause some mischief—a delivery man was hurrying through the street. How unlucky, to be working in Naruto's presence.

He followed the man for a while, strangely unnoticed. Must be an important delivery; that man was almost running by the time Naruto caught up to him. When he was close enough, he pretended to stumble on a rock and fell, taking the man down with him.

"Hey!" The man yelled when he realized who had just tripped him, "Can't you mind your fucking business for once? This was important, I…" He stopped screaming to look at the fallen package. "It's gonna be all shattered! And I… I'll lose my job! Because of you!" He stood up, barely containing his anger. He started walking away, leaving the package behind. As he was getting further, he muttered, "You really are a damn fox."

Naruto looked at him, stunned. Damn fox… What does that mean? He's heard people say it before, but no one dares explain to him why. Things weren't making sense and it drove him crazy.

Resigned, he decided to just go home. It never made sense. Why would it now?

As he was about to open the door, he heard something getting closer. Didn't sound like a person though. He looked around, only to see a white little fox walking up to him. Ironic, isn't it?

"Hello, Uzumaki Naruto." It jumped on the railing and sat down, facing him. "We were recently informed about your existence here and are here to reconnect with our kind."

Naruto stared at it dumbfounded.

"Did I say something wrong?" The fox's stoic facade started to crumble. "Sorry, it's my first time interacting with a human, I'm not quite sure what to say…" It looked down in shame. "Although, you're not exactly human, or so I was told."

"What…?" Naruto managed to exhale.

"I don't really know where the confusion is from." It looked at him, puzzled, as if Naruto was the irrational one here.

"I've never met a talking fox before…"

"Oh," that seemed to lessen the fox's bewilderment. "I've been told you've never interacted with us before. But now I'm here to change that. The elders decided we can't let you just live on your own anymore, not when there are so many humans around."

Despite all those words being said, Naruto's confusion only grew. If things never made sense, now they really don't.

"What are you even saying? I… don't get it." He looked at his feet and thought about this whole thing, "You're a fox. And I'm… not." Or so he thought, until now. Could it be, that the delivery man earlier was right? He didn't look like a fox though. Maybe everyone was just crazy and he was the only sane one?

"You seem to be… rather confused. Of course, humans had no business telling you this. But I have." It looked straight into his eyes. "You're not a human like the rest of them here, Naruto. You're one of us."

Since then, a bunch of different foxes would visit him every day, never leaving him alone. He still wasn't sure what was going on, but it felt nice. They really seemed to care about him, unlike the people in Konoha.

"Hey, Naruto, tomorrow's your birthday, right?" Kazuki, an orange two-tailed fox sitting on his table asked.

"Yeah." He mumbled. "Nothing's gonna happen anyway."

"Well…" The fox seemed to think about something for a while. "How old are you gonna be?

"Nine." He looked at the fox with confusion. "What are you gonna do with that?"

"Don't worry!" It said as it disappeared to wherever the foxes go.

The next day, he was woken up by a horde of foxes in his apartment. Many of which he had never seen before.

He quickly sat up and looked at them, bewildered.

"What do you want?!"

"To celebrate your birthday, of course." Kazuki jumped on the other side of his bed. "And introduce you to the rest of us! My mother wants to meet you."

Well, at least he wouldn't spend the day alone.

The foxes were actually friendly and welcoming. He wasn't quite sure how to react to that, but they didn't seem to mind. They didn't seem to understand how human interactions work at all. But maybe it was a good thing.

"Put a leaf over your head," Kayoko, the white, three-tailed fox instructed him. "And visualize what you want to transform into."

Naruto followed her advice, but nothing major seemed to happen.

"Maybe a different leaf? This one's already turning brown."

He looked for a nice, green leaf and repeated the process again.

Suddenly, he felt weird. Everything turned black, and when he opened his eyes, the world looked much bigger.

"That's it!" Kayoko exclaimed. She brought a mirror to him with one of her tails and let him see for himself.

He stared at the mirror with awe and surprise. That was… a fox. Kayoko had told him to try shifting into something familiar and not too detailed at first. So he settled on a fox.

He's seen quite a lot of them recently. They kept him company in his house, followed him outside and now even allowed him to enter their home. The Onari Village, it was called. Hidden from any unwanted visitors, in a dimension humans can't access on their own. But the recent events made him realize he wasn't really one of those…

"Now, I think you should go home. If you spend too much time in Onari, the humans may start looking for you. And they wouldn't really like it if you just went missing like that…" She stopped and sighed. But he knew exactly what she meant by this. The other foxes had told him earlier—the reason why the people of Konoha despised him. And it didn't make things better.

"Okay. I'll go." He tore the leaf he had used to transform earlier and returned back to his true form.

The walk back home gave him an opportunity to think some things through. He'll be starting the academy in a few days, though he didn't know what to think about it. Sure, he'll learn useful things that may make him be finally noticed by someone, but the thought of going to class with so many other kids and teachers was also kind of scary. The kids didn't really treat him as bad as the adults, however they could be cruel too.

Still, he couldn't help but hope that things get better.

The academy was really annoying him right from the start. Or, rather, the people in it. Mostly one of them. The one that didn't bother to talk to anyone in the class, only ever answering to other students' questions. He would sit still the whole time, though he seemed to turn into a whole another person during sparring.

Now was Naruto's turn. Of course, he had to be sparring with the most annoying person in class. He prepared himself and…

Uchiha Sasuke defeated him almost in an instant.

The boy got up and started walking away, but Naruto ran up to him and caught him by the collar.

"Where do you think you're going?!" He yelled to the Uchiha boy.

Sasuke looked at him, confused.

"Our fight is done."

He was really getting on Naruto's nerves.

"Not until I say so! Come back here and fight me!"

Sasuke got out of his grasp and walked away.

Naruto huffed and walked the opposite way. If that's how he wants it, then so be it. He'll just have to defeat Sasuke next time.

When he got home, the first thing he did was find Kazuki.

"Can any of you actually teach me how to fight?" He said once he spotted the fox. "I could learn all of your magic techniques, but what I need right now is a real fight!"

"Fight?" Kazuki looked a bit surprised. "We don't really do direct fights…" He thought about it for a bit. "But I think there's someone who might be helpful with taijutsu."

"Really?!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah… I'll ask them when I get the chance, but… nothing's guaranteed."

"That's so cool! Thanks!" He quickly left the room, yelling.

A few days later, Kazuki came to his room.

"Remember when you asked for help with taijutsu?" Upon hearing that, Naruto instantly jumped out of bed. "They agreed to help you. But I must warn you…" Kazuki shuddered a bit. "They're a… rough teacher."

"I can take it! Just tell me where they are!" He was virtually vibrating with excitement by now.

Kazuki, instead, gave him a piece of red washi paper.

"Go to Onari. When you're there, pour some chakra onto the paper. It'll show you their location."

The next day after classes, Naruto went to The Onari Village holding the red paper in his hand. Once he let some chakra flow onto it, an arrow appeared on the surface. He followed the direction, using the paper a few more times to see if the arrow would start pointing to a different place.

After a while, he arrived near a temple. The path to the building was surrounded by numerous torii gates towering over his head. He walked under them, looking around for the mysterious teacher Kazuki had told him about.

In front of the temple, a woman was practicing slashes with a katana. Her hair was white and put up in two buns held up by red ribbons. She looked like a shrine maiden, wearing wide, red pants and a white robe. Although he couldn't see her face through the fox mask she wore.

As he started approaching her, she turned around and pointed at him with her sword.

"What are you looking for, child?" Her harsh voice startled him.

"Are you the teacher Kazuki asked to train me?" He tried to hide his fear and look confident in front of the woman.

She seemed to relax at that. "Oh? So you're that new kid, then?" She pondered for a while. "Why don't you show me what you've got?"

Naruto didn't even register the moment she charged at him.

Suddenly, he was laying on the ground.

"Do you even want to fight?" The woman was standing above him, and though he didn't see her face, he was sure she was hiding a mocking smile under the mask.

He practically jumped into a standing position. "'Course I do!" He looked at her, determined. "You just gotta teach me so I can be the best!"

"And why do you want to do that?" She questioned.

"So everyone finally has to respect me! When I'll be the strongest, no one will doubt me!"

The woman, unexpectedly, looked pleased with his answer, even if she tried to hide it.

"We can try." She took off her mask and revealed sharp, gold eyes piercing him. "But you have to commit to this."

He looked at her in awe. "I've got this!"

The next time he had to spar with Sasuke, he was significantly less annoyed. Maybe it was because of the confidence in his new skills, or maybe Sasuke has just gotten less annoying.

Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed too confident. After all, he was the best in their class and always won, no matter who was standing against him. But today, that will change.

As they both charged, Sasuke lost some of his courage. Perhaps the sight of Naruto matching his skills for once was something he had never thought he'd see.

They exchanged blows and punches for a while, and that seemed too much for the Uchiha boy, who wasn't prepared for a longer fight at all. He quickly started panicking, which created an opening for Naruto.

He pinned Sasuke down with a grin.

"Naruto wins!" Iruka exclaimed, a little bewildered himself.

The kids watching them stared at Naruto with disbelief.

He stood up and walked away, not even sparing a glance at Sasuke, who was still laying down, stunned. As he was about to join the other kids, he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Sasuke, breathing heavily from their fight.

"Where did you learn that?"

"I'm just that good." He said smugly.

"No, I'm asking you seriously. Who taught you that? I… I've never seen someone fight like that." Sasuke's curiosity seemed genuine.

He eyed Sasuke for a brief moment.

"My teacher."

"That I know, but who is it?" Sasuke started getting annoyed.

"And why would I tell you?"

Sasuke startled at that, but didn't inquire further.

He continued to stand there and watch Naruto as he's leaving, back turned to Sasuke.

Chapter Text

This whole Naruto guy was seriously pissing Sasuke off.

What's his deal anyway? One day he's one of the worst students in class, and the next he just defeats Sasuke with no trouble. Sasuke, who has been training every day he can remember, be it alone or with someone from his clan. His clan, the Uchiha clan. And still, he goes and gets beaten by the same person he had never expected to even graduate the academy, yet alone suddenly become stronger than Sasuke himself.

Not like he cared that much about fighting anyway—it was mainly his father's wish, to join the academy. And he did it, not like he could just refuse. All to make his father proud, but he's still not sure if that's ever going to happen. He always gives his best in training, and even so, it's not enough.

Just who does Naruto think he is?!

Ever since Sasuke lost to him that day, he's been working harder and harder, because there's no way someone like him will best someone like Sasuke.

He really needs to find out who that mysterious teacher is, 'cause they clearly seem to know what they're doing, making the previously one of the weakest kids the strongest in their class. Now that is an improvement. He honestly finds himself amazed, captivated, even. Sure, that teacher must be on a whole another level, but they didn't do the work for Naruto. It's almost admirable, but Sasuke doesn't have time for that. He just has to get even better than Naruto and show him who's truly the best. He may have won that battle, but the war's just starting.

"I think I'm getting it, Kaede-sensei!" Naruto yelled excitedly.

After a few weeks of practicing taijutsu, she decided to let him try fighting with a sword too. It was nothing special, just a basic practice sword, but it sure got him motivated to learn to wield something much more serious one day.

"Show me then." The woman said with a smirk, her fox mask long abandoned on the ground. She let her seven white tails show and each one picked up a sword. "Come at me, I'll be on the defensive."

He suddenly seemed to lose some of his confidence. Still, he didn't let that intimidate him and charged at Kaede—to no avail.

She effortlessly blocked all his attacks while not even using her hands.

"That's not fair!" He accused after she surrounded him with a sword on each side.

"A fight isn't meant to be fair. You've got to use everything you can to win." She put emphasis on the second sentence. "You won't get anywhere if you keep fighting opponents your level, so I had to up the game." She seemed proud of herself.

"I mean, yeah… Yeah." Naruto was out of things to say, mainly because she was right.

"Get up." Kaede commanded. "We're training until you pass out from exhaustion."

That seemed to wake him up.

"Wait, what?!" He didn't hide his outrage.

"That's what it takes to be the strongest."

He looked at her, more serious this time and took the sword back into his hand.

Kaede readied herself and nodded to him.

Naruto swung at her until he felt like he couldn't move anymore.

"Can we skip the passing out part, please?" He mumbled.

She laughed and sat down next to him on the ground.

"Tell me, what are they even teaching you at that academy of yours?" She questioned, clearly unsatisfied.

"Uh… Nothing special." He pondered for a while.

"That's what I figured." She huffed. "You were absolutely useless on the first day."

He turned to her, offended.

"What? That's just the truth." Kaede said, amused.

He seemed to think about it for a while.

"But now I'm not?"

"No." She tried to hide it, though she was quite taken aback. "In fact, I think your enormous chakra reserves may be pretty useful for what I wanted to show you…" Now was her time to think.

Naruto's mood instantly jumped up.

"What is it?" He immediately asked.

Instead of answering, Kaede gave him a book.

"Read this."

"Huh?!" Naruto screamed.

"What? Well, can you read?" She laughed.

"Um…" He looked down and Kaede immediately stopped laughing. "Not that well…"

"Oh?" She got lost in thought for a while. "I'll have Kazuki practice reading with you then." That didn't seem to lessen his worries, so she continued, "Being familiar with more advanced kanji will give you a great advantage at learning our techniques, so you better start learning now. I guess you could just master them through practice with someone else, but we can't just hand everything out to you. You have to make an effort too, you know? This," she pointed to the book in his hands, "is a collection of all jutsu created by the foxes of Onari, though most of it is fuuinjutsu. I'm sure you'll be able to perform them too." She gave him an encouraging smile.

Naruto's worry seemed to disappear, although he still didn't quite look like he had actually understood what was being said to him.

"Fuuinjutsu? Isn't that like… really hard and complicated?"

"It is." Kaede's words confused him to no end. "But you'll get the hang of it in no time."

What was he not getting? Or was his master just utterly crazy, thinking he'll learn one of the most complicated techniques like that?

"Don't look at me like that." She laughed. "What, don't believe me? Get to studying then, and we'll see."

He still wasn't sure what to think of this, especially with her cryptic responses. Maybe he'll be able to use the seals because he's partly like them? It's the only possibility that makes sense now—there's no way he'd be able to master something that complicated without the advantage that being a kitsune would give him.

And so, he spent most of his free time now with Kazuki, who was teaching him numerous kanji characters on Kaede's request. She seems to be widely respected among the foxes, since Kazuki accepted his task without complaints. Although, Naruto felt as if they weren't making any real progress. He'd always forget most of the previous day studies in the morning, no matter how long he sat staring at the characters. Studying just wasn't for him, but Kaede-sensei seemed to have great hopes for him, so he tried anyway. Sometimes he just wishes he could tell her his studies are a total waste of time…

"Are you even listening to me?!" An outraged Kazuki yells straight to his face.

"Oh… yeah, I'm listening."

"No you're not!" The angry fox huffs. "Why is it me? Isn't she your teacher?!"

Naruto didn't even answer him, leaving him to voice his frustration.

All this studying was driving him crazy as well. He wanted to fight! To be the best! But Kaede said this whole book contains all kinds of strong techniques used by the foxes, so he supposes he can pull through it. Or could, had he some better luck with reading. Suddenly, he decided he couldn't wait anymore—he found the book in his room and opened it. Kaede was right, it did have many characters he has not seen before.

"Hey, Kazuki! Come here!"

"What now?" He muttered, clearly annoyed, and yet came to his room pretty quickly.

"Help me read this." Naruto showed him the book from Kaede.

"Help? I'm gonna have to recite this whole thing just so you can understand!"

"Then do it." He said, grinning.

Kazuki gulped.

The first technique was a seal binding multiple paper sheets together to communicate messages or give locations, like the one he had used to find Kaede in Onari. All that was needed to perform it was a relatively small amount of chakra and a specific hand—or paw—placement, as not all kitsune were able to take on a human form yet.

"I don't have any washi paper, though…" Naruto mumbled, disappointed.

"I'll go get some! Just wait here, I'll be back in a while." Kazuki informed him, much more enthusiastically than before, and disappeared, off to Onari.

When waiting for Kazuki, Naruto heard someone knocking.

He quickly hid the book and ran to the door.

Opening it, he saw a familiar, yet unexpected figure.

"Iruka-sensei…? What are you doing here?"

Sasuke was pretty sure he was a few steps away from passing out.

He made a promise to himself to train even more than ever after Naruto had surpassed him. He was going to make sure everyone knows what it means to be an Uchiha, as his father keeps telling him. He can't let himself fall behind.

"Hey, Sasuke!" He heard a distant voice calling him. "You doing okay here?" Itachi asked with evident worry.

"Yeah, I'm just… training." He huffed between heavy breaths.

"I see." His big brother smiled at him. "Just don't overdo it, okay? Let's go home, dinner's gonna be ready in a moment."

"Okay…" He tried to walk ahead, but almost tripped himself.

"Come here." Itachi offered to carry him, seeing the display.

They walked home together, Itachi only setting Sasuke down when they reached the door. He manages to go to the dining room on his own and slumps on the closest chair.

"Tired after training, huh, Sasuke?" His mom says with a fond smile as she sets the food in front of him. "Better eat up, then."

He just nodded and got to eating, not caring about much else right now. He really did overdo it today. He's so obsessed with being better than Naruto, but does Naruto even think about him that much? He still doesn't know who is supposed to be that guy's teacher. Observing Naruto's moves doesn't help, because they're unlike anything he has ever seen. He fights so different from everyone else in the academy that Sasuke can't even begin to try to find someone who would match his style. But he will find out eventually. The way he moves during their training is so… graceful, opposed to literally everything else about Naruto.

"How's training, Sasuke?" His father's question makes him return to the real world again. "You've been practicing a lot more recently."

"Good." He manages to get out. His dad, however, looks quite unsatisfied with the short answer, so he tries to say something more. "There's this guy at the academy… I'm training more so I can beat him."

"So he beat you, huh?"

"Yeah…" He admits, even if it doesn't come to him that easy.

"And what's this guy's name?"

"Naruto."

At the mention of that name, his parents exchange surprised looks, although his father looks more outraged than anything. Do they know him, then? Sasuke shares his dad's outrage, but it just confuses him. What's his father got to do with Naruto?

"Is something… wrong?" Sasuke asked with uncertainty in his voice.

"Nothing, just…" Fugaku stayed silent for a while, and then added, "Just don't get too close to him."

That confused Sasuke even more. Why would he want to get close to Naruto?! His biggest rival, the one he needs to surpass?! Why did his father say it like that, though…? He felt the need to ask…

"Why?"

"Just don't." His dad said and left the room.

But that nonsense didn't satisfy him. What's his father's problem? He surely wouldn't even think of getting close to Naruto, but this… This just made him want to do it. Besides, getting close to him would give him a chance to finally find out who teaches this guy all those moves of his. Indeed, that sounds like a plan.

He spends the rest of the day in his room, too tired to really do anything. He wonders about the meaning behind his father's words, but still can't get it. Naruto is a troublemaker for sure, but his dad sounded really serious while saying that. There must be something more going on, something he's not aware of… yet. He's gonna find out everything.

The next day, however, when he goes to the academy, Naruto's nowhere to be seen. No one seems to be worried, though. Maybe he just got sick. But he's never been sick enough to stay home before—he's got some crazy immune system. Sasuke hopes he will just come late, but he doesn't. So he decides to take the matter into his own hands.

He finds Iruka and asks him,

"Where's Naruto?"

The man looks quite surprised at that.

"You want to speak to him?"

"Yes."

"Oh… well, I don't know where he is either." Iruka admits with a sheepish smile on his face. "Skipping classes, most probably. I'll go check on him later."

Sasuke accepted his explanation, but still had a weird feeling about this. Why is it that today, when he finally decided to talk to Naruto, he's gone? Is he scared to face him this time? Maybe Sasuke did already surpass him… But that's to be decided when that idiot actually shows up.

Naruto's never done that before.

He'd never just disappear for a whole day. And Iruka is growing more and more suspicious as he walks to his house. Knowing the kid, though, he's probably laying in his bed or pulling some stupid pranks on the villagers, while here's Iruka, getting all worried…

He still has to find him. Naruto's already barely passing all his classes other than taijutsu, at which he's being strangely good lately. It's really hard to believe he comes up with all those moves by himself—and he probably doesn't. There's someone else. Someone that Iruka doesn't know of, and it's bugging him. There's not a single person he can recall that would agree to help Naruto with training. And seeing how he moves while fighting, it has to be someone with loads of experience. None of it erases Iruka's worries.

He finally reaches the kid's house and knocks.

And knocks.

And knocks.

But his house is dead quiet.

He can't bear it anymore and pushes the door open.

Chapter Text

The house was messy.

That's the first thing Iruka noticed. Not like Naruto has ever not been messy. But this was something else—everywhere he looked, there was chaos.

"Naruto?" He called, hoping for an answer.

And yet, there was nothing to be heard. No response. Not even footsteps.

Iruka went to the bedroom, some part of him still believing Naruto's just laying in his bed, making fun of his worried teacher. But, of course, that was untrue. The room was in utter disorder, almost making it look like the aftermath of a fight.

Fight.

Right.

This was only getting worse and worse.

Through his growing panic, he didn't hear the footsteps now approaching him until they reached the room.

"Who's there?!" He turned around.

But there was no one except Iruka himself.

He felt the need to leave this house now.

He ran out and slammed the door behind him shut. He had to think. Do something.

A sudden scream from behind startled her.

Sakura looked around, only to realize it must've come from a smaller alley she had just passed by. It was dangerous, but she decided to check anyway.

She tried to take a peek at the scene without making herself too easy to see for whoever was there.

The first thing she saw was a man, shaking on the ground. He seemed to be scared of the person standing in front of him, but Sakura only saw them from behind and the alley was dark. Still, the person looked rather short compared to the apparently terrified man. Behind the scared man stood three more people, starting to lose their confidence as they watched the person standing in front of them.

No one made a move. No one dared to say anything, the only sounds coming from the heavily breathing man. Sakura guessed he was the one screaming before, judging by the blood on his abdomen.

Eventually, the three men whispered something between each other and each took a kunai out of their pouches.

"You're coming with us or you're dead, got it?!" One of them yelled, trying to sound more confident than he really was.

The person didn't even say anything before jumping at him and taking the kunai out of his hand.

The man wasn't given any time to react as the other person held the kunai to his throat, now standing behind him.

The remaining two men stared at them in horror.

One of them lunged himself at the person threatening the man, but his attack was quickly deflected and his kunai flew out of his hand.

When the threatened men realized he was out of his attacker's grasp, he took a run for it and the other two standing men followed. They escaped, without even noticing Sakura, who was watching their encounter. That left the one man unable to stand up.

"Hey…" He turned his head to face the person who had just scared the other men to death. "Don't… don't kill me, please…" His voice was filled with desperation.

The person turned around and she could finally see their face.

"Naruto…?"

No, there was something off about him. Sakura was pretty sure his eyes flickered red for a second.

Naruto looked like he was really about to kill the man, but eventually passed out.

"Naruto!" Sakura ran up to him, ignoring the man. Strangely, he didn't look injured at all, so he might've just passed out from exhaustion. However, something was really wrong with this whole situation. First of all, why would those men even want to fight Naruto? And why would they want him to come with them? Were they planning to… kidnap him?

Each thought was worse than the other, so she just focused on what's now. There was still that man, although he wasn't much of a threat, she supposed.

Sakura needed to get help. The other men could still come back, and she wasn't really sure what happened to Naruto. She left him on the ground and ran to the main street to see if she could find someone there.

"Sakura!" She heard Iruka call to her. He seemed tired, as if he ran all the way here.

"Iruka-sensei!" She sighed, relieved. "I need your help, there's…" She didn't really know how to explain the situation.

Iruka just nodded and went into the alley with her. She led him to Naruto, both of them not paying any attention to the remaining man.

She heard Iruka gasp as he crouched and started checking Naruto for any injuries.

"He's okay… I think." She whispered. "He… was fighting some men here…" Iruka tensed at that. "But he won. They all ran away… except that one still laying there. I don't think he… can run."

"Oh…" Iruka seems to realize something. Something Sakura doesn't. "You can go home, then. I'll take care of this."

She's not too happy about it, but does as he says. "Iruka-sensei…?" She says as she's about to leave the alley. "Do you know why those men wanted to take Naruto?"

"I don't."

But Sakura doesn't trust him. He's lying to her, and it pisses her off. Arguing here isn't gonna help though, so she just leaves. She can solve this later.

While watching the fight, she realized, however, that she really liked the way Naruto swung at the men with the kunai. Maybe she could try out training with a sword herself…?

The next day, Naruto still wasn't seen anywhere near the academy.

But there was Iruka.

After classes, she quickly ran up to him before he left,

"Hey, Iruka-sensei, could you show me how to use a sword?"

He seemed a bit taken aback by the question.

"I could… and where does this sudden interest come from?"

Sakura gave him a suspicious look, remembering his lie from yesterday.

"I just thought it'd be cool."

He didn't really look like he believed her, but let it go.

"Okay, I can bring some practice swords to physical training classes tomorrow and you'll have a chance to see if you like it, is that right?"

"Yeah! Thank you, sensei!" She beamed with, partly, fake excitement and left.

What was so important that Iruka couldn't just tell her yesterday? Why is he acting all weird like that?

There was obviously something going on, and he, for some reason, didn't tell her anything. There was no reason for anyone to want to possibly kidnap Naruto, or so she thought. Iruka's secrecy didn't help.

But she did see something.

Maybe her eyes were just deceiving her, but she was almost sure Naruto's eyes turned red for a moment in that alley.

And that's anything but normal.

That's not just something to brush off.

There's also the attitude adults have towards him. Everyone seems to hate him with no clear reason at all. And do his pranks really anger them that bad, or is there a deeper reasoning behind this?

As she was approaching her home, she noticed a fox following her. It stopped right when Sakura looked at it, and disappeared.

Surprised, she didn't notice it reappearing in front of her, and only looked down when it nudged her leg.

It left behind a scroll and ran away.

She quickly took it before anyone around could see and went home.

She ran to her room, as to not let her parents see the scroll and locked the door.

It could be something dangerous, but her curiosity got the best of her. It can't be a coincidence—that fox gave her the scroll for a reason.

She opened it and saw a small piece of paper next to the seal. There was some kind of message written on it. It was the instruction on how to unseal the contents of the scroll, so she got to work right away.

She followed all the steps, and then…

"Whoa!" Sakura exclaimed.

Two swords appeared!

They weren't regular swords, though. Each consisted of a long, main prong projecting from the one-handed handle, and two shorter side prongs pointing in the same direction as the main one, making it look like a triple-bladed sword that had two of its blades cut in half.

Sakura has never seen swords like that.

She took one of them and suddenly, another piece of paper appeared. It read:

,,Take this as a sign of our gratitude! Those are the sai swords crafted in our village that also act as chakra blades, so try infusing them with your chakra. Happy training! -K."

Gratitude? She didn't remember helping a fox, though…

Whatever. Those were some cool swords! And, apparently, chakra blades.

She poured some chakra onto the one she's holding and saw it really turn into a triple-bladed sword. The shorter prongs became as long as the main one, using chakra to extend their reach.

"Whoa…"

She couldn't just show the swords to Iruka and ask him to teach her how to use them, though. How would she explain this? Iruka is hiding something from her anyway, so that's only fair. She's not letting him near those swords.

However, is there anyone else?

Figuring it all by herself is going to take some time, but it's a better alternative to explaining to a potential teacher how she even got her hands on these.

And in the meantime, she can learn on basic swords Iruka will bring to class tomorrow.

Sakura has been acting strange since Naruto disappeared.

And Sasuke has no idea why. She'd always praise him and fangirl over him with the other girls in class, but now she pays him no mind. Doesn't even look at him. Not like he dislikes it, quite the opposite actually—it's just the sudden change that confuses him.

She's also sending weird looks at Iruka, suspicious, almost. Watches his every move in class. It's been like that since the teacher told him he'd go check on Naruto…

What exactly happened back then?

Not something good, looking at the fact that Naruto hasn't come to class ever since. It's already been a week since his disappearance. That's certainly not right.

Especially when he sees Sakura go talk to Iruka after classes again.

How many times has she done that before? Probably every day since Naruto's been gone.

When they leave, he sees her go in a different direction than usual, too. Just what did they talk about?

Today, Iruka finally agreed.

She's been asking him almost every day for the past week!

She wonders why couldn't he just tell her sooner as she follows the address he gave her. Sakura wasn't too sure if she knows where that actually is, but she told him she'll manage, so now she has to find the house herself.

She gets lost a few times, but eventually gets it right. She's also not sure if she's making it up, or if there were more than usual shinobi guarding the nearby streets. Was the incident with Naruto such a big deal…?

She knocks on the door.

Nothing happens for a while, until she finally hears footsteps approaching.

The door opens, or, rather, is pushed open.

"Sakura? What are you doing here?" Naruto exclaims, the surprise clearly visible on his face.

"Just wanted to check on you." She smiles. "Can I… come in?"

"Oh? Sure."

She takes in her surroundings as he closes the door.

Finally, she finds the courage to speak up,

"You know…" She starts in a serious tone, "I was there, a week ago."

His face pales a bit at that.

"What… did actually happen? Back then? Iruka-sensei doesn't want to tell me anything…" She sets her gaze on the floor. "But I saw it. They wanted something from you, didn't they?"

He looks speechless for a while.

"I don't know." He says after a moment and Sakura turns her head to him in surprise. Is he about to lie to her too? "What happened. I don't really remember…" He scratches his head. "But they did want something from me." He says with much more conviction than before. "And…" He wants to say something, but stops himself.

"Do you know… what they wanted?" She asks hesitantly.

"I do." Naruto answers instantly. "But I can't let them know I know."

It all, somehow, starts making less and less sense. "Them?"

"Iruka-sensei and the rest."

So Iruka does know. And, for some reason, Naruto doesn't want his teacher to be aware that he too knows what's going on. She doesn't feel like Naruto's going to tell her, though, so she leaves the subject as it is.

"Who were those guys, anyway?"

"They don't wanna tell me." He seems to relax a bit at the change of subject.

"Oh…" She ponders for a while. "What happened to them? I only know that three of them ran away, and…"

"The other one is dead."

She stared at him.

"Oh."

"I don't remember it. But they told me I killed him. Is… is that true?" He looks at her, almost pleading.

She couldn't say anything. It's like she forgot how to talk.

"I…" She managed to get out after a while. "I mean…" She took a deep breath. "He did look injured…" She couldn't look Naruto in the face anymore. "I… I didn't pay much attention to him, but…" She tried to recall the events the best she could. "I think he… he did stop moving after a while…" She wants to vomit as she remembers how it all really happened.

They stand there in silence.

If he really doesn't remember… Then why did she tell him that?

Maybe he would've been better off without knowing that.

Why the hell did she just say that?!

Is the truth really the best in all situations?

Why couldn't she just have said she doesn't remember?

What the hell is wrong with her?!

Suddenly, she was thrown out of her head into the real world once again.

It took her a while to realize.

Naruto was hugging her.

And crying too.

She hugged him back.

"You're not scared of me, are you?" He asks, not pulling away from the hug.

"No."

Today, Iruka brought them all sorts of weapons to train with again.

He doesn't really dislike it, but it's a common occurrence lately.

Sasuke just prefers taijutsu, though, but the lessons don't bother him much. He already trains a lot at home anyway.

But it does seem like some others really enjoy the lessons.

Sakura and Naruto are really enthusiastic when it comes to swords. Usually, he'd brush it off, it's just a matter of preference, but…

They do look like they're much closer now. And they know something Sasuke doesn't. That just confirms his suspicions—something big happened that day when Naruto didn't come to the academy. And the following week. Iruka has been acting different too. Why does it seem like everyone knows what's happening, except him? It isn't really unfair though, Sasuke has never been close to Naruto.

But neither did Sakura.

She actually disliked him before, or at least looked like it. So why the change now? Something's off, and he needs to know what it is.

She fell asleep during class again.

Looks like all the sneaking out at night to train with her swords caught up to her…

But Sakura doesn't regret any of it.

She's still at the top of her class when it comes to grades, so it's not a concern for her just yet.

It's not like she has any other way of practicing using the swords she got from a fox she didn't even know, so that's her only option. Not to mention they're supposed to be a gift of gratitude, but she can't recall when exactly she helped out a fox. She doesn't really feel like explaining all that to anyone at all, so sneaking out it is.

Although maybe there was someone that could help her…

Now that she thinks about it, it's almost a bit suspicious, too. When Iruka had announced the sword practice on her request, one of the people who were the most happy about it was Naruto. Sakura realizes her own sudden enthusiasm must look strange to others too, but… there's something more to it. He's much better at it than she is. Not like she's any professional, but she's been training. And Naruto looks as if he's been training for at least months before she even started. He's changed so much since the beginning of the academy it's a little uncanny.

But it's not just him that changed.

Her new disinterest in Sasuke caught many people's eyes too. Sakura can almost feel Ino's stare burning through her all the time. She knows the other students are suspicious of her, but can't really bring herself to care. It's the same with Sasuke as well. There's just… nothing left in the place where her admiration for him once was. She doesn't dislike him either, it's like she feels nothing at all. The thing she's mostly focused on now is solving the problem with Iruka.

Their teacher changed too. Maybe the others didn't notice it as much, but he's always acting as if someone's observing his every move. And by someone, she doesn't mean just the students—it's like he's trying to hide something far more important than they could imagine. Sakura doesn't like the fact that he lied to her, but he doesn't seem to have bad intentions. Perhaps he has to lie about something. She wonders if it could be connected to Naruto telling her that he can't let Iruka know he knows too…

She wishes she could finally find out what's going on, but there's no way Iruka is ever telling her, and Naruto doesn't want to talk about the incident earlier at all. Seems like she has to do it herself, then. Or with a little help…

She noticed there was also someone else that has been acting strange recently. He's been sending her and Naruto weird looks ever since Naruto finally appeared in classes again.

She looks at Sasuke.

Chapter Text

Everyone has been lying to him.

And they still do.

He thought that maybe, in a situation like this, they would finally tell him everything. But seems like they want him to stay in the dark forever.

Fortunately for him, he had someone else to explain it to him.

And what if he didn't? Would he live the rest of his life unaware of what he really is? Never knowing why everyone hated him? Or would he be forced to find out the hard way?

Even Iruka doesn't want to tell him anything.

It's all honestly starting to piss him off… but isn't that just giving them what they expect of him? Can he even fight against them without proving them right? If he lets his anger get the best of him, he's just going to become the monster they all see in him. But why does he still care what they think about him? Life would be much easier if he didn't, and yet here he is.

Would they get mad if they knew he's already aware of all this? Maybe he'd scare them even more? Although, he's not sure if that's a bad thing anymore. Perhaps they would finally treat him better if he was a real threat.

It all comes down to becoming stronger after all.

As long as he's weak, no one's going to take him seriously. So all he has to do is get stronger.

And stronger.

He's sure Iruka is growing more and more suspicious of him.

Naruto has been sending Kazuki disguised as himself to do his tests for him for a few weeks already, but no one suspects a thing.

Well, maybe except for the fact that his grades suddenly increased, which is definitely strange of him. But everyone keeps thinking he's just cheating, and he'll let them. They'll never find out it's not actually him that gets the good grades. The foxes are so good at transformation they're basically impossible to differentiate from the real person.

There were always some shinobi guarding his house now, but they never got close enough to actually see what was happening inside, so fooling them wasn't too hard. He just never left the house when Kazuki was at the academy for him.

Kazuki, of course, wouldn't just agree to do that for free though, so now Naruto has to personally get him lunch every day. It definitely helped him become a pickpocketing master more than anything—his budget is barely enough to buy food for himself, much less a greedy, grumpy little fox. But with his new abilities… that will be easy to change.

But Iruka is always watching him in class now. Is it so hard to believe that maybe he finally decided to learn something?

He can't really deny the fact that it, in fact, is.

"Don't leave so fast, Naruto." Iruka told him once when the classes ended.

He gulped.

"What's the matter, Iruka-sensei?"

"We both know what it is." The teacher said with a serious expression on his face. "How did you get so smart lately? Did you change your mind and decide to finally study for your classes?" He looks doubtful of that, but can't really say much else, since no one has ever caught Naruto cheating.

"Well…" He scratches his head. But then he remembers how Iruka didn't want to tell him anything of what happened there. If it wasn't for Sakura, would he ever get to know it? Why would he tell anyone the truth, when all they do is lie to him? "And why would I tell you that?" Naruto huffs, his mood shifting. He supposes he's allowed to be angry after all.

Iruka seems genuinely taken aback.

"Because I'm your teacher." The man says with a bit of disbelief in his voice.

"Do you also constantly lie to me because you're my teacher?" He whispers.

"Could you repeat that?" Iruka raises a brow.

"Why would I tell you anything when all you and the others do is lie?!" He yells and bolts out of the room, leaving Iruka alone to think his words through.

He's had enough.

If they want him to cooperate, they'll have to contribute to that too.

He's done with trying to be human.

Maybe they'll finally learn to treat him right when he embraces the monster he is instead.

…But through his anger, he didn't notice the two people spying on him.

Sakura had convinced Sasuke to stay behind after Iruka called Naruto to stay in class, but she definitely wasn't expecting something like that.

She knew Iruka meant well, but…

She can't blame Naruto for his reaction.

"So they're really lying to him too?" She whispered, mostly to herself.

"We still have no idea what this is about." Sasuke complained. "What exactly are they even lying about?"

They both didn't know how to answer that.

"Maybe we could just ask him."

"You said he didn't want to tell you anything." Sasuke muttered through his growing annoyance.

"We could try again."

"We?" He raised his eyebrow. "You're like… friends. I don't even talk to him."

"You could start." She smirks.

Sasuke's serious expression gave way to genuine surprise.

"I mean… what would we even talk about?"

"I don't know, training? Fighting? You're both obsessed with beating people up, like the weirdos you are." Sakura said with fake disgust.

"That's… not so stupid, you know?" He realizes.

She looks at him, offended.

"Of course it's not!"

This could be their opportunity to finally learn something. Though Sasuke wasn't so sure if Naruto would want to talk to him. But it won't hurt to try, right…?

He will only find out tomorrow, since Naruto has probably ran all the way to the other side of the village by now.

Still, Sasuke can't help but remember his father's words.

Just don't get too close to him.

It all has to be somewhat connected. Except it doesn't make any sense—Sakura had told him Naruto was attacked by a group of men on the first day of his disappearance, but this only made everything worse. She didn't want to tell him any more, probably because Naruto wouldn't want her to, so it had to be the details she left out that made it make sense.

He respects Naruto's privacy, or at least tries to, but knowing the full version would be really helpful now.

Wondering the meaning of it all kept him awake at night.

He's not sure if he even got some sleep…

Whatever, he's got a mystery to solve today.

Luckily, Naruto did go to the academy that day. Sasuke thinks he'd die out of curiosity if he didn't.

But he was acting rather strange. It's been like that for a while—on some days, Naruto would act different than normally. And, by coincidence or not, it always happened on test days. Maybe he was just stressed?

He watched as Sakura came up to him and started talking about something. Seems like she noticed the odd behavior too, because her eyes were basically glued to Naruto, observing his every move.

Sasuke planned to talk to Naruto later, but he never returned after supposedly going to the bathroom.

Iruka was getting worried too, because he grabbed another teacher to look after them while he went to search for Naruto.

But he returned alone.

Did that idiot really just go home in the middle of class?!

Iruka whispered something to the teacher and made an announcement,

"That's it for today! The rest of the classes are cancelled, but you can't go home on your own until we've confirmed it's safe."

The students immediately went into panic.

Just what did Iruka find?

He turned to Sakura,

"Do you know what this is about?"

"No!" She exclaimed, on the verge of panicking herself. "He was acting all weird today, and then…!" She was at a loss of words.

"Let's go find him then."

"But… we can't leave yet!"

"Just follow me." He lowered his voice and ran out of the classroom when the teacher suddenly left, called by someone else.

They stopped when they ran far away from the academy.

"Let's go to his house first." Sakura said sternly, already having recovered from the panic.

She started running without giving him a sign.

He caught up to her, not caring for the suspicious looks people walking by gave them. But when they finally stood before the door, he found himself getting more and more nervous. This shouldn't be stressing him out, it's just Naruto! And yet…

Sakura knocked.

But they got no answer.

"Naruto! Are you home?!" She yelled after a while, almost making him jump.

They heard some shuffling from inside the house, and suddenly, the door opened.

There, stood a quite panicked-looking Naruto.

"What's happening?" He asked Sakura, most probably not even noticing Sasuke.

"That's what we should be asking you." She countered, equally confused.

That seemed to make him think, because he looked around and, finally, noticed Sasuke was standing there too.

"And what are you doing here…?" His panic left him at once and turned to annoyance.

"I was looking for you." He said casually.

Naruto hadn't expected that, judging by his reaction.

He looked between the two of them, dumbfounded.

"Are you okay?" Sakura broke the silence.

"Yeah, just…" He wasn't really sure what to say.

"Just what?" Sasuke couldn't help but get annoyed too. "Just ran out of class randomly and made everyone believe there was a threat at the academy?

Naruto looked at him, shocked.

"What… That wasn't me." He mumbled with his eyes still wide open.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, surprised.

Naruto suddenly paled, realizing he had said too much and closed the door without any further explanation.

How the hell is he going to explain this?!

He won't.

He ran to his room, where Kazuki was now sitting on his bed.

"What did you do?!" He whisper-yelled, knowing Sakura and Sasuke were probably still standing in front of his door.

"That girl was so suspicious of me today I almost thought she had me figured out!" The fox huffed in exasperation, "So I ran away from that place! Don't ever send me there again!"

Naruto stared at him.

"What are you even saying?!" He muttered in disbelief. "Of course she wouldn't guess it was you! What am I gonna say to them now…?"

Kazuki looked down and stayed quiet.

"Naruto! Open the door!" Iruka's voice suddenly called from outside.

"Shit!" He cursed and gave the papers with the seals he just had been practicing a while ago to Kazuki, who then disappeared.

Naruto slowly approached the door and, eventually, opened it.

There, Iruka was staring at him so intensely he looked like his eyes were about to explode.

"Would you mind explaining this?"

"I just felt… really sick." He quickly came up with a lie, though probably not a very believable one. Still, Iruka seemed to calm down a bit upon hearing it.

"Okay, but…" His teacher sighed. "Next time, don't run away like that. You made all the teachers worried there may be some danger at the academy."

Naruto was surprised at Iruka's sudden softness, but nodded anyway and looked expectantly at Sakura and Sasuke, who instantly ran and hid behind the wall.

Sensing Naruto wasn't up for a conversation now, Iruka turned around and started slowly walking away, sending one last look his way as he heard the door close.

Maybe they were all wrong in this?

Maybe it'd be better if he just knew everything from the start?

Iruka knows he has to do something about all this, but he has no idea how to tackle it now. Naruto doesn't want to talk to him, and everyone else would surely be against this. They're afraid of what he would do if he found out the truth… but he doesn't seem to be doing that good as he is right now anyway. But Iruka can't just wait and see if something happens—he's already lost Naruto's trust and he doesn't want to lose him. He knows he hasn't been doing nearly enough, but this will change.

"Iruka-sensei!" He heard Sakura yelling as she caught up to him. "Is… Naruto in trouble?"

Why would I tell you anything when all you and the others do is lie?!

"No."

Iruka knows it's going to be a lot of work, but he's ready. No matter what the others say, he will fix his mistakes and finally start treating Naruto like he deserves to. He's not a monster, despite what they think. But one day, it could be too late to say that… So he'll try his best to repair the mess the Hidden Leaf has created.

There's no way he's going to learn this technique in time for his graduation exam.

Why do they have to do this?!

Naruto tried to convince Kaede to help him, but she just told him they don't use this kind of jutsu there and that's all he heard from her since then. Not really helpful…

But she was his last hope!

Tomorrow, he'll have to do it or he won't graduate!

Maybe he'd just send Kazuki again?

But no, he's now scared to go talk to other people after a particular incident…

Looks like he'll just have to try his best and hope Iruka isn't too strict on him.

Speaking of which, Iruka has been quite nice to him recently, so he actually might have a chance at that.

…Or so he thinks.

Because he totally fails the exam.

His eyes move between the rather pitiful clone he had just made and Iruka sitting at the desk.

"Hey, Iruka…" The other teacher sitting beside him, Mizuki, says, "He did technically manage to make a clone, even if it's a little… flawed." He smiled. "I'm not that great at clones myself, you know? Cut him some slack…"

"No, Mizuki." Iruka interrupted the man, "Every student has to generate three clones, and Naruto barely made one. His performance is just not worth a passing grade."

Naruto stares at the teachers, resigned.

What is he going to do now…?

He can't stand all the other students celebrating with their parents, so he leaves early. However, as he's walking back home, a familiar voice calls to him from behind,

"Naruto."

Startled, he looks around.

"Mizuki-sensei?"

Finding and stealing the scroll was fairly easy.

The Hokage had almost caught him there, but he was able to turn into a small cat using the technique Kayoko taught him with the leaf and sneak past the man in the dark.

Too easy.

If only the exam had been like that…

He sat down in the forest, far enough from the village and opened the scroll.

"Why…?!" He mumbled, "The first jutsu is generating multiple clones… Damn it!"

He got to learning anyway, knowing this may be his only chance to graduate.

"Found you…!" He heard someone say after… probably hours.

"No, I found you, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelled and pointed at the man, "If I show you what I've learned… You'll have to let me graduate!"

Iruka paled slightly at that.

"What exactly have you learned…?" He asks, his voice quivering a bit. "And where have you gotten that scroll?"

"Oh, this? Mizuki-sensei told me about it." Naruto admits. "He said that you'll let me pass if I learn this… So why are you looking at me like that?" He says innocently, well aware of what he's done, in hopes Iruka just blames Mizuki instead.

Judging by the man's face, it seems to work.

He doesn't have the time to say anything else, though—Iruka suddenly pushes him to the side as a wave of kunai flies toward them.

"Give me that scroll, Naruto." Mizuki yells, standing above him on a tree.

"Don't!" Iruka interrupted, trapped by the numerous kunai stabbing his body. "Don't let him have it, no matter what! He just wants it for himself!"

"Even I could understand that…" Naruto muttered angrily.

"You know, even if you've read it all, it's all useless!" Mizuki said with a grin. "Are you aware… of what really happened when the demon fox was sealed again twelve years ago?

Naruto grunted, but let the man continue.

"Ever since then, everyone in the village has been bound by a decree. Everyone but you."

"And you're not very secret about it, you jerk!" Naruto roared, fed up with all their little games. "I know!" He exclaims, voice wavering, "I know what happened and none of you wanted to tell me! So stop acting like-"

Suddenly, he was pushed again.

"What…"

The words died on his mouth when he saw Iruka's face above him.

"Why?" He whispered as Iruka's blood dropped on his face.

"I…" Iruka gasped. "I had no one to praise me, or respect me, with my parents gone." His voice trembled, "I was lonely, so I became the class clown. I just wanted to be noticed by someone… It was better than being a nobody. And it… hurt so much." He sobbed, "It must've hurt you too. I was so hard on you, yelling… even having to lie to your face."

Naruto stared at him, shocked.

"Forgive me…" The man sniffed. "If I'd only been a better teacher…"

"Enough!" Mizuki yells, getting impatient. He kicks Iruka out of the way. "Just give me that!"

"No way!" Naruto exclaims and stands up, ready to face the man.

He looks up, to where a pair of gold eyes sits, observing him.

Naruto smirks and throws the scroll to somewhere up in the trees.

"What are you doing…?!" Mizuki shouts in exasperation, when a kunai cuts through the air dangerously close to his face. He looks around, only to see hundreds of clones of Naruto jumping down to him.

Iruka stares at the shadow clones, real clones, in awe. He smiles at the scene.

When the clones disperse, he sees Mizuki laying on the ground, beaten up.

"I guess I got a bit carried away…" Naruto mutters, scratching his head.

Iruka laughs.

"Come here. I've got a present for you."

"You can open your eyes now."

He sees Iruka, a wide smile on the teacher's face.

"Congratulations on your graduation!" Iruka tells him. "To celebrate, I'm taking you to Ichiraku!"

Chapter Text

He entered the classroom, drawing everyone's attention.

They looked at him like he'd just grown a second head as he walked towards the desk Sakura's sitting at. She sends a quick glance to his side, but doesn't speak up. Naruto wants to say something, but retreats when his eyes land on Sasuke, who took the seat next to Sakura.

It takes a while to get there, but eventually, Iruka announces his team,

"Next, Team 7. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke."

At the words, Sakura beams with excitement, while Naruto sulks in his chair, glaring at an unaffected-looking Sasuke. He was honestly hoping to get paired up with Sakura, the only person from their academy he actually liked being around, but Sasuke just ruined the whole thing for him.

Why did it have to be Sasuke, out of everyone?!

Of course he'd end up on the same team with the guy he hates the most, but that's just more opportunities to kick his ass, right?

He leaves without saying a word to his new teammates. There are some things he has to think through—how is he going to train with his team without giving himself away? Sakura and Sasuke may not figure him out by themselves, however suspicious of him they are by now. Their teacher, on the other hand, could turn out to be much more troublesome. He can't just tell them who taught him to fight and there's no possible lie he can come up with that would be believable enough.

He gets lost in his thoughts and doesn't notice the people glaring at him angrily as he slowly makes his way through the busy street.

"Why did they let him graduate?" He catches a murmur from someone walking by, but he ignores it and continues his journey home.

Luck, however, isn't on his side today and someone bumps into him, making him fall and knock a nearby stall over.

He's too distracted to grasp what's happening in time, and suddenly every witness of the scene is staring at him angrily.

"Thief!" Someone shouts and points at him.

Confused, Naruto darts around, only to find out everyone has already taken his accuser's side.

He starts running, knowing nothing will convince them to let him go now.

Most people aren't actually interested enough to pursue after him, but he can hear a few different footsteps following him quickly. They're getting closer, so in panic, he runs into a small side alley and hides.

They don't notice him and run straight ahead… or so he thought, because one of them stops and takes a look at the alley.

He sits there, trying to not make a sound.

The man follows him anyway.

"Where are you hiding, demon brat?" He snarls, "You murdered my friend and you're still running free!" His voice shakes with both anger and sadness. "But I am not letting that be forgotten… Time to face the consequences, don't you think?" He says as he stands face to face with Naruto. "We weren't prepared to face you the last time…" He stops and takes something out of his pouch. "But now, I'll make you pay!"

The man throws a bunch of kunai at him.

Naruto dodges, but not in time to evade all of them. A kunai stabs through his upper leg and he cries out in pain.

"That's right!" His attacker exclaims, laughing, "We're just getting started…!"

Naruto tries to summon his sword, but his opponent doesn't give him time for anything besides dodging his attacks. Stuck on the defense, he can't land a single hit. After a while, he starts to feel sluggish. Was the kunai poisoned?

He hopes someone will come help him.

Hopes someone will find him in time.

But there's no Sakura this time.

There's no Iruka.

He doesn't have the time to call Kaede, who's probably busy with something else now and can't watch him at all times.

"I can help you." A voice from within calls to him.

Suddenly, he finds himself in front of a giant cage. The man is gone, it's just him now.

Him and the fox sitting behind the bars.

"You useless child." It says, "You'd be dead without me."

"They're all after me because of you!" He yells back.

"Right." The fox huffs with amusement. "And why are you letting them do it? Show 'em why they call you a demon."

He wants to disagree, to argue back, but he's thrown out into the real world again.

But this time, he feels different.

He's no longer tired and feels a fiery, angry chakra burning under his skin.

So that damn fox is helping him now?

Naruto looks at the man standing in front of him, fear in his eyes.

Why's he scared now? Didn't he expect to fight a monster?

Without a word, he punches the man in the guts faster than his opponent could register.

He stands above his attacker, who seems unable to fight any further.

Why was that so easy?

The same man who swore to make him pay is now laying on the ground, helpless. A single punch with the Kyuubi's chakra was all it took. He really is a monster, then. They're not wrong to call him a demon.

But why does it feel so good? Shouldn't he feel bad? He just beat up a man. People say that violence isn't always the answer, but then why is it so satisfying? That man attacked him first, so he deserved it. Was Naruto supposed to be the bigger person? That's probably what everyone expects of him. To just accept it when people insult and attack him when he's done nothing wrong. Anyone else would be allowed to fight back, but not him. When he fights back, he's just a monster. A monster that enjoys making others suffer.

And maybe he does.

It makes him sick, but he does enjoy the sight. He hates himself for it, but he can't deny it feels good after all. To finally stand up for himself. That man's not dying anyway, he'll be okay. It's all his fault for attacking Naruto first. He knew he's up against a demon, and yet he fought like it was a child standing in front of him.

So seems like they are aware he's a child, too. They just choose to ignore it when it doesn't suit them.

But he finally starts to understand them.

He's scared of himself too.

He shouldn't feel so good about this. But he does. There is something wrong with him.

Footsteps approaching him suddenly wake him up and he jumps away from the man. Whoever found him here clearly wanted to say something, but he bolted into the main street before he could even see who it was. He ran, not caring where. He just needed to get out of here.

He ran until he saw trees everywhere around him.

He stopped and slumped against a tree.

Suddenly, Sasuke being on his team wasn't his biggest problem anymore. How fast things change…

It's surely the Nine-Tails' fault. It's making him irrational. Because he would never think like that. He wouldn't enjoy beating someone up. He does enjoy fighting, but that was something different. That wasn't just a fight. That man most probably wanted to kill him, but ended up almost dying instead. He was at Naruto's mercy. And he left him there… He didn't kill him, so he's not a bad person, right? He defended himself. Maybe he overreacted a little. But it's not his fault! Those people should know who they're up against. It's not his fault they overestimated their abilities. Everyone calls him a monster, but expects him to be weak. That just makes no sense. Why would he be defenseless if he's a demon? How could he have murdered all these people and be helpless at the same time? They're the irrational ones. He'll make them recognize him for who he is. It's not that bad, being a monster, if people finally learn to respect you because of it. They sure don't seem scared of him now. They wouldn't kick him out of their stores if they were. They wouldn't insult him. If only he were stronger… He could show them. Show them he's not to be treated like trash. Kyuubi's chakra made him so much more powerful, and he barely used a fraction of it! What could he do with…

Why is he seriously considering this?

The same thing that caused his life to be like this. And he wants to use it for himself.

Disgusting.

How selfish could he be?

But isn't he allowed to have something? After all this time, is it still wrong of him to be selfish? Everyone around him is. And yet he can't. Because he's not like everyone. And it pisses him off. He has a right to be angry, no matter what they say. He didn't ask to be like this. It's not fair. The other kids get to live normal lives with their families, and he… He can't even complain about his life, because he'll get called ungrateful. He should thank them for not killing him yet. Many have tried…

What should he even do now…?

"Naruto! What are you doing here?"

He looks up to see Sakura standing in front of him. She's visibly worried. He must've been sitting here for a long time, then.

"We're gonna be meeting our new teacher soon…" She says to him, softly, as if she was scared he'd run away, "You should go back to the academy with us."

Us?

Oh, right.

Sasuke is standing next to her, looking equally worried.

Why is he worried?!

He's got no business being here. Why is he following Sakura around when it's something about Naruto? She's his friend, not Sasuke. He's only standing in the way. All they've ever done is sparred in the academy. They're not friends.

He was taking too long to answer, because they were looking more and more uncomfortable as they stood before him.

"Fine." Naruto huffed and got up, wobbly.

That didn't make them any less worried, but none of them said a word and walked with him in silence.

They were moving at a slow pace, mainly because of Naruto, but he wasn't even aware of it. He seemed lost in his head the whole time, not paying attention to the outside world. If it wasn't for Sakura and Sasuke, he'd have walked into a pole a few times already. But he couldn't stop thinking about that man—how he looked after Naruto punched him. Why was that sight so captivating?

He feels sick.

He probably looks haunted right now, but he couldn't care less. He feels as if he had betrayed himself. What would Iruka think?

Iruka wouldn't protect a monster like this. He made a mistake. Letting Naruto live was a mistake. He just graduated a few days ago, and he's almost killed a man already. All because he got a little angry. He couldn't keep his emotions in check, and now that man will have to lay in the hospital for weeks. But Naruto will never have to. Such injuries don't affect him like they affect other people. Is he even a person anymore? Doesn't seem like it.

How could he even become a ninja? Should someone like him even be a shinobi in the first place?

He's going to get stronger, and then…

And then what?

Do even worse things?

No, he has to get stronger so people will finally put some respect to his name! Nothing like this would've happened if they didn't hate him. So there has to be a way… A way to make people like him. But he has no idea how to do that.

He's forced to focus on the real world again as someone starts shaking him awake.

"Naruto!" He hears someone yell.

What's their problem now?

"He won't…" He can't make out the rest of the sentence.

Someone's talking. A few people.

But their words don't reach him.

All sounds are muffled when they reach his ears.

Whoever was in the room with him must've started panicking by now, as the voices turn into shouts.

Room?

Seems like they've made it back to the academy.

It feels like someone's shaking him again.

If he focuses enough, he can see a pink blob in front of him.

Pink…

"Sakura?" Naruto says after a long time, his voice not more than a whisper, "What are you doing?"

Sakura seems to finally relax upon hearing that.

She lets out a long sigh.

"You weren't answering us at all and…" She takes a sharp inhale. "We're worried!" She looks at him, her eyes wide. "What happened?"

Now that's a good question.

Did he really freak out that much?

All because he beat up some random man.

"Nothing."

Because that's what it really is, right?

There was no reason for him to do all that. He was attacked and defended himself. No need to make it any deeper than it is. He made them worried over nothing.

Sakura didn't look convinced at all.

Suddenly, her head turned to the side.

He followed her gaze.

A man has entered the room. He looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself when he sensed the atmosphere in the room. Two of the kids he was meant to teach from now on were pretty much panicking, and the other just sat there, an almost bored look on his face.

Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't that.

Kakashi was told these kids were quite… extraordinary, but this was really weird. The first thing he noticed was that Naruto didn't match the way his academy teachers described him at all.

The kid was the calmest one in the room, when it was supposed to be the other way.

And judging by the expressions on the other kids' faces, something bad happened.

What a great first day…

"I'm guessing you're Team 7, right?" He asked, mainly to lighten the mood.

"Yeah…" The girl, Sakura, answered. He was surprised they didn't say anything about him being late, and the last jonin to show up today, but seems like they were too shaken up by whatever just happened.

Clearly, they weren't in the mood for introductions today, so he figured he must come up with something else.

"How about we meet and have a talk tomorrow, then?"

He didn't want to get up.

He's going to be late… But can't find it in himself to care.

Naruto stares at the ceiling.

Why did it have to happen now? Now, when he finally has the chance to become a ninja for real?

Of course he'd start doubting it all when it's within his reach.

He has to go and meet up with his new team. And for what?

Sighing, he slowly gets out of his bed.

He gets ready, not really registering what he's doing. All he can think about is the man from yesterday. Can he even become a shinobi after this? If beating up one person makes him freak out like that, is he even meant to be a fighter? His teammates are going to notice something's off about him. And they will be scared and leave him. Perhaps that's for the better.

He leaves his house and starts heading off to wherever they agreed to meet.

But after a while, he realizes he doesn't actually know where to go.

By accident—or not,—he sees a head full of pink hair somewhere in the distance. He doesn't feel like running up to Sakura, so he just follows her from far away until they reach the meeting point.

Sasuke's already there, but their new jonin instructor is nowhere to be seen.

He finds a spot in the shadow and sits down, keeping his distance from Sakura and Sasuke. How is he going to train among them without revealing his secrets? He's sure their teacher knows about the situation with the Nine-Tails, but nothing more. What's he going to do if he finds out Naruto is even more of a fox than they all think…?

He has no idea how to fool a jonin, though. Not when that man is going to watch him for probably a few years now.

"Yo!"

He looks up to see a silver-haired man standing in front of him. He looks familiar, though…

Right, he's the jonin instructor they were supposed to meet.

"Let's introduce ourselves, then." The man says, leaning against a fence. "I'd like each of you to say something about yourselves."

"Like what?" Sakura asks, confused.

"Likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies… The usual." He shrugs.

"You go first, sensei. You're a complete stranger to us." Sasuke adds, annoyance clear in his voice.

The man looks at him, surprised, but doesn't oppose.

"Me?" He sighs. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I don't like talking about my likes and dislikes. My dreams are… none of your business. Anyway, I have lots of hobbies."

They all send him an annoyed glare.

"We only really learned his name…" Sakura mutters.

"Your turn now. Starting with you." Kakashi points to Sasuke.

"My name's Uchiha Sasuke." He huffs. "As for my likes and dislikes… I like tomatoes." He stops and thinks for a while. He can't get any words out, so Sakura chimes in and saves him,

"I'm Haruno Sakura!" She raises her hand. "I like cute things and swords," she giggles, "and my dream is…" She laughs once again.

Kakashi sighs and looks expectantly at Naruto, who doesn't seem to notice anything around him at all.

Sakura and Sasuke turn their heads to look at him after a few seconds of silence, only to see him sit still, staring at the ground.

"Naruto…?" Sakura tried to get his attention with no effect. She walked up to him and waved her hand in front of his face, which finally seemed to work. He flinched and stared at her, disoriented. "It's your turn." She said. Seeing that it did not clear his confusion, she added, "To introduce yourself."

He looked at Kakashi and then Sasuke, who looked equally worried, and muttered,

"Well, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

Everyone stared at him, expecting more, but when that didn't come, they gave up.

"Okay, everyone!" Kakashi yelled to get their attention. "We'll meet again tomorrow, though I can't say what we'll be doing. And don't eat breakfast!" With that, he disappeared.

Naruto stood up and slowly started making his way back home, unaware of the worried glances Sakura and Sasuke shot at him.

He didn't want to see his stupid sensei tomorrow. Or his teammates. Especially Sasuke.

Why is this happening now?

He should be happy. He's finally a shinobi.

But can he still be happy after discovering something so disgusting yesterday? That feeling—that satisfaction—after beating that man, it's not something normal. He shouldn't feel that way.

He really is a monster.

While passing by Ichiraku, someone puts a hand on his shoulder and stops him.

Iruka stands there and gestures with his hand to follow him.

They both sit at the counter, Iruka yelling out his order.

"Hey, Naruto." The man says, causing Naruto to finally look at him. Iruka's face suddenly gets serious. "Are you okay?"

He wasn't expecting that.

The surprise is clear on his face. Iruka doesn't look away for a second, trying to figure out Naruto's expression.

"Yeah…?" He says, unsure. "What do you mean, Iruka-sensei?"

"That man attacked you yesterday, right?" Iruka mentioning it so casually made Naruto flinch.

"How do you know about that?" He asks with a shaky voice.

"Another shinobi saw it and caught him." He explains, watching Naruto's face closely. "You weren't hurt, so he let you walk away." He stops for a second. "How did you defeat that man?"

Naruto stares at him.

"I…"

He can't tell Iruka what really happened there, can he?

"I don't know."

Iruka sighs and looks down.

"I understand if you don't want to tell me. But are you really fine?"

He doesn't answer that.

Iruka lets it go and sits in silence until their food arrives.

Naruto stares at the bowl of ramen in front of him, well aware he didn't order it. Iruka sends him a smile and starts eating his own portion, encouraging him to do the same. When they're done, he gets up, but Iruka stops him from walking away.

"Good luck tomorrow!" He says and leaves.

What does that mean?

Naruto turns around and starts walking towards his home, thinking about the meaning of Iruka's words and the man from yesterday. Though, he's been doing too much of that lately. He has so much going on in his head that he doesn't actually realize what he's doing most of the time. He's never been like that before. Did that incident really mess him up that bad?

At least Iruka still wants to talk to him.

He thought that once his former teacher finds out, he'll call him a monster too. Because there's no way for a new genin like him to take down an experienced ninja like that. Well, no way for a genin that isn't him. He's sure everyone knows how he did it, they just don't want to say it out loud.

That makes him think…

How long will he be able to hide this from his teammates?

He can't pretend he's a normal person forever… They're bound to find out one day.

And he's not ready for that day.

They'll be scared of him too. And leave him. And he can't stand the thought of Sakura being afraid of him. The rest, he doesn't care anymore. He'd probably beat them up with the same satisfaction as yesterday if he got the chance. But not Sakura. Or Iruka. Or even Sasuke… He's annoying, but not the worst.

Why is everything so hard? Why can't he just be normal and not have to worry about scaring people because of a demon inside him?

He wishes he could hide from it all, in a place no one can find.

Maybe then he'll finally get some peace.

But there is a place like that, isn't there?

He can't remember what he was dreaming about at night.

Nor can he remember…

Did he eat breakfast today?

He wasn't meant to, was he…?

He has no idea what he's been doing since he woke up.

But he has bigger problems now.

Kakashi suddenly disappeared, leaving the three of them alone.

Three?

He didn't notice Sakura and Sasuke standing here neither, it seems.

What are they supposed to do here, anyway?

Right… Kakashi did talk about some bells.

Kakashi, who suddenly appeared behind him.

He turns around and dodges the attack the man was planning.

Kakashi looks at him, surprised, and disappears again.

That's going to be interesting.

Chapter Text

He was getting a strange feeling about those kids once again.

Something just wasn't right, he was sure of it, even if he had no idea what.

First thing he noticed, they didn't match the descriptions he was given at all. He knew Naruto's grades were barely passing (even though there was a short time period where they were perfect for reasons unknown), but he made up for them with his taijutsu. And still, he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. The way he fought surprised even Kakashi. Sasuke and Sakura used mainly the moves taught in the Academy, but they still weren't quite what he had expected.

Now, he was standing all alone on the training ground. They were hiding from him. He could, however, find them easily, but he didn't really want to. Waiting to see what they'd come up with sounded like a better idea.

He couldn't help but wonder where Naruto learned all this. He was really good at sensing Kakashi whenever he came close, which allowed him to escape easily. That, and his fighting style—it's not something you learn by yourself, not at his age.

It also looked like he was good at making it harder for Kakashi to sense him. It's like he disappeared completely—not a trace left of him.

And he's so going to ask Naruto what's all this about later.

But now, he has to focus on the test.

The three of them seem to be pretty close, even if Naruto's not very fond of Sasuke. That's why Kakashi has probably placed too much hope in them than he should. He can't help it though, the worst that could happen is the kids will fail and he gets a bit disappointed, nothing he can't handle.

"Kakashi-sensei!" He hears someone yell from behind.

"Sakura?" He turns around, suspicious. Why would she just come up to him like that?

"Sensei…" She said, now quieter. Her expression was hard to read, but she most certainly wasn't about to bring him any good news. There was something wrong with this entire interaction, even though he couldn't pinpoint what exactly. "Have you seen Sasuke? I think he got lost somewhere and I can't find him now…" Her voice shook slightly, "What if he's hurt?"

That threw Kakashi off.

He didn't say anything, but got to finding Sasuke anyway. While it was true that he couldn't find his chakra, there was something else he found instead. Why did it look like Sakura was in two places at once? It can't be a clone—they both feel very real.

Kakashi was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice something about to grab the bells attached to his clothes.

He quickly turned around and found himself staring at Sasuke.

Then, he looked to where Sakura stood just seconds before, but she was nowhere to be found.

So it seems like these kids do have potential. Once again, they exceed his expectations during the short time he's known them.

Just what were they planning now?

Maybe if he simply ignored the feeling, it would disappear.

He can't let his teammates down now because of his stupid freak out.

Even if proceeding with the plan meant revealing more than he had thought was needed…

Naruto realized he just didn't care that much anymore. Recently, it was hard to care about anything, though. It's like he just became a new person overnight. He can't tell if that's scary or amusing, but either way, it's probably better for him. Caring so much about so many things was tiring. This, however, this feels good. Like they say, ignorance is bliss.

He had cared about that man who attacked him. Cared about hiding the truth from Sakura and Sasuke. Cared about becoming stronger.

But… maybe he still cares a little. Just not enough to actually do something about it. If showing his teammates a technique he wasn't supposed to know meant they pass the test, it's all worth it. He'll deal with all the explanations later—what matters now is that they all actually become shinobi. He doesn't know why is that so important, but it's definitely important to them, so why not just go along with it? Surely, he can come up with a good reason later…

Anyway, the plan was going well for now.

Sasuke, who was now disguised as Sakura, went to Kakashi to distract him and try to get the bells. When Naruto told them about this technique, they both insisted on using it and didn't accept no as an answer. He was surprised they didn't ask him where he got it from, but he's not in a place to complain.

It took him some time, but eventually he learned how to use the perfected transformation on others too. It's a technique created by the foxes, and one of the easiest ones. Most are some kinds of seals or illusions, which are definitely not something he could learn on his level. He got some weird looks from Sakura and Sasuke when he had explained they needed a nice leaf to perform it, but it did work out in the end, so they didn't say anything about it.

He knows they're suspicious of him. And they know something's wrong with him.

He's just not sure if delaying it all still makes sense. They're bound to find out one day. And the longer he continues to hide it, the worse the reveal will be. They'll feel betrayed. Fooled. Why can't he just tell them now and save himself the pain later? Why can't he just do what he wants to do? He wants to ignore that feeling, but he can't. He wants to tell them the truth, but it's almost physically impossible. It's all so unnecessarily complicated.

But they should be moving on with the plan now.

He sent a clone transformed into a small fox to keep an eye on Sasuke, and once he reached Kakashi, the clone was supposed to disperse. And it did, a few seconds ago. He was too late to notice it—they had to go and hope it'll all go well now. He can't directly communicate with the clones, so he had to create a lot of them and make them disappear every time something important happens so that the information reaches him.

From what he knows now, Sasuke has already approached Kakashi. They should be making their move too.

He had transformed Sakura to look like him, because it was more believable to have multiple copies of him running around than the other way around. Kakashi must know about Naruto learning the shadow clone jutsu—him stealing the scroll caused quite a commotion after all.

Another clone dispersed. Seems like Sasuke failed…

That doesn't matter though, now that they've reached them both.

Kakashi was standing in front of Sasuke, but… Sasuke's head was the only visible part of his body.

"Oh, Naruto, you too?" Kakashi said, clearly amused. He, of course, had no way of knowing one of his supposed clones was actually Sakura.

Instantly, the clones ran towards Kakashi in waves. He and Sakura stayed behind, Naruto because he had to make new clones as the ones attacking their sensei were disappearing fast, and Sakura as to not reveal herself—his fighting style was quite characteristic, after all. She would stand out from the other clones, and they didn't want that.

The most important aspect of the whole plan was surprise, as they didn't really have any means of actually overpowering Kakashi to get those bells. If that didn't work out, they were basically left with nothing.

But Kakashi already had them figured out, it seemed. He suddenly appeared before the real Naruto, making him jump in surprise. When the 'clone' standing next to Naruto didn't disperse after being hit, it was Kakashi's turn to be flabbergasted.

The transformation was still working, as expected. It was the only technique from the foxes he has perfected so far, and was pretty proud of it, too. Kaede-sensei had tormented him with it until he performed it without flaw. Speaking of…

He was pretty sure someone has been watching them the whole time here. So looks like she wanted to see how his training paid off, then. Fine, he'll show her it all.

At that moment, he decided to not hold back at all. So what if Kakashi becomes suspicious of him? He's already being weird anyway. That man has only ever acted strange during this whole time of the few days he's known them. Naruto owes him nothing.

He broke out of his shocked state and charged right at Kakashi, now aware that his other teacher's here too.

He actually managed to land a hit, but that was all.

He was almost instantly pushed off and pinned to the ground.

"That makes two of you…" The man sighed. "Now, where's Sakura?" He looked around. "Pretty sure I saw her here a while ago…"

He let his guard down for a few seconds.

But that's enough…

One of his clones already switched places with his teammates.

In one moment, Sakura and Sasuke both struck at Kakashi.

Naruto used that second of distraction to make a move too.

They all attacked at the same time, yet still failed to even touch the bells.

He wasn't sure if they could do more than that, though… Were they set up for failure from the beginning? That made him think… why were there two bells? Kakashi probably explained it before the test, but he wasn't listening to most of what the man had to say.

That didn't matter now, because they couldn't pass the test in the end.

They're going to return to the academy, and have to learn all those stupid things all over again… Or… not?

He looked at his teammates, who were laughing.

Why are they laughing?!

"We pass, Naruto!" Sakura ran up to him, seeing his confused expression. "Kakashi-sensei just said we pass!"

He stared at her. How could they pass…?

"It was about teamwork." Sasuke explained to him. "But looks like you don't listen to what people actually say to you…" He sighed.

Naruto huffed.

"Now, now, let's not get into fights anymore!" Kakashi interrupted before the situation escalated. "You all pass, why don't you go celebrate?"

"Right!" Sakura beamed and grabbed both Naruto and Sasuke by their sleeves. But before she left, she turned around and faced Kakashi, "Why don't you come with us, sensei?"

The man hid his surprise.

"Maybe another time. Bye!" He said and disappeared.

Sakura sighed and took off towards the one place she knew Naruto would love.

He has to tell them.

He has to go.

Running away will always be easier, and he doesn't think he has it in himself to face the truth now.

"Sorry, I…" Naruto said, escaping Sakura's grasp. "I'm not feeling well, I have to go…!"

He quickly turned around to leave, not giving them time to argue. He decided to take a look at them before running off, but…

Their sad faces almost made him go back. He closed his eyes and ran instead.

He just can't seem to stop hurting people. He is a monster after all…

Why did he leave them? Couldn't he just stay and at least act like it's okay? That doesn't matter now, he ran away from them, he can't just return like that and expect them to treat him normally. Maybe he'll face them tomorrow. But not now.

He felt someone watching him before he saw them.

That's when he realized he had almost ran off from the village while he was lost in thought.

Kaede looked like she wanted to take a step towards him, but backed off suddenly.

"Naruto!" Someone called to him.

Before he managed to turn around and take a look, he saw Iruka get in front of him.

Oh. Iruka thought Kaede was a threat.

She smiled and disappeared into the forest.

Iruka didn't feel like laughing, though.

"What are you doing here alone?" He questioned, voice harsh. "Don't tell me you've done something stupid again…!"

The anger seemed to escape his body once he took a good look at Naruto though.

"What… did something happen?" He asked, much softer now.

Now that just confused Naruto. Did he look that bad? Well, thinking back, he's not actually sure how much time has he been running…

"No… I don't know." He mumbled. It's like all his strength just left him at once. He was too tired to say more, not like he knew what else to say.

It's not the first time he feels like this. Something has been wrong with him lately…

Iruka must notice he's not in the mood to talk, as he wordlessly walks up to him and wraps him up in a quick hug.

It surprises Naruto, but he doesn't pull away.

Because it feels… nice. In fact, it's so nice he wants to stay like that for long, maybe forever. But that's not possible. When Iruka finally backs off, it's like he got a slap to his face. He wanted to say something, to make this moment last longer, but he couldn't.

Why was everything so hard now?

It's as if the world was against him. Everything was making him angry. Even in moments like this, he can't… be normal for once.

But then he sees Iruka send him a smile, and it's all good again.

Maybe not everything's so bad.

Maybe… maybe Iruka could actually understand him. It's exhausting to keep so much from everyone, he feels like he has to say something. At least to him. No one else has to know.

But only if it was this easy…

Now, he could just enjoy the moment, right? He didn't have to tell anyone anything. Yet. Maybe it could work out like this. Still, it doesn't change the fact that he's been feeling quite… different recently. But that didn't mean anything.

He doesn't know how it happened, but suddenly he's in front of his house. Staring at the door, he tries to remember how exactly did he walk all the way there.

"Something wrong?"

He jerks his head to the side, startled.

Iruka was looking right back at him.

"No."

In all honesty… that was it. He has no idea why, but everything just feels good. Like it's all how it's supposed to be. Has he ever felt like this before?

Maybe he'll be able to face Sakura and Sasuke now. If they will even want to talk to him now…

But they will. He knows it and he has to stop always imagining the worst case scenario. He'll see them tomorrow and they'll talk and have a good time. He decided it now. They have to properly celebrate, all of them together… even Sasuke.

As he enters his home and says goodbye to Iruka, he feels as if he's being watched again. There, standing before him, is a woman with white hair. Just what is it with her, that makes him feel like that whenever she's nearby? It always creeps him out.

"You've been watching me the whole day."

Kaede smiles.

"I wanted to see how this test was going to work." She expressed skeptically. "But you did pretty well, no?"

"I don't think so…" He mumbled, staring at the floor.

"Why? You passed the test." She looked at him, surprised. "But I get what you mean." Her tone changed to a more serious one, "Still shaken up by that guy?"

He turned his head almost violently.

"How do you…?" He managed to mutter.

"Obviously, I can't watch you at all times, but you don't think the ninja from your village know nothing about it, right? They see what's happening on their streets." She sighed. "They just didn't deem it important enough to do something. A man attacked you, you defended yourself and ran. Not that out of ordinary. It does seem quite significant to you, though." She put emphasis on the last sentence.

He couldn't say anything.

She makes it seem so simple…

Except maybe it is.

Why did he make such a big deal out of it? So what if he enjoys making other people suffer? So what if he's a monster, what if he…

No, that was just stupid.

If he liked bringing other people pain so much, he'd definitely feel good about leaving Sakura and Sasuke there, right…?

He doesn't.

So maybe not everything's wrong with him. Maybe he did overreact.

But he knows better now. He'll go to them tomorrow, and… He has no idea what's he going to do. What does he say to them? Does he explain the origin of his technique? Does he explain anything at all? No, that'd just be stupid. He can't tell them such things. Does he want to be all alone again?

He'll tell them something. But nothing important.

That's when he notices Kaede is still looking at him.

Right, he forgot…

What's up will all this thinking recently? He used to just not care about most things. And he wants to go back. It all was so simple back then…

"It must've really affected you then, if it has you thinking so much…" She muttered.

Not sure if it was supposed to be an insult, he decided to just let it go.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Huh…?" The surprise was clear on his face.

No one has asked him this direct of a question before. And he has no idea how to answer it.

What is he thinking about?

"…Myself."

"Oh?" She exhaled, wondering about something. "I thought you'd be thinking about that guy. But he makes you think about yourself instead. Well, now that I think about it… What could you possibly even think about him?" She smiled, "Went out in one punch… That's pretty lame, isn't it?"

He couldn't agree. It wasn't fair. It wasn't his power…

"But… I would've never defeated him alone."

Kaede raised a brow.

"What does that mean? It's not like you can just become alone, so you better accept it sooner or later."

He wants to disagree, but… He can't. How is she doing it? How does she always find the right words?

And he knows she's right, but there's a part of him that wants to argue. Why should he just accept his suffering? That stupid fox is the reason everyone hates him, and he should just accept it?

On the other hand…

"Can I get rid of it?"

It's the first time he's ever voiced this thought this aloud. But he's been asking himself for a long time now. What could he do to finally be like the others? If he ever finds out the answer, he knows he'll do it instantly. Whatever it is, it'll be worth it.

"Unless you wanna die…" Kaede answered bitterly. "Then no."

His face fell.

So there was no way out, huh?

She looked like she wanted to say something more, though. He waited, but nothing came.

What could it be, that she's hiding from him…?