A Scrap of Humanity

A Scrap of Humanity


Part V


To miss him

Naruto POV


I had another one of those dreams tonight. It was a short one since we were in the middle of the Chuunin Exams. I only hope that I didn't make too much racket seeing how intense it was. I sat there quietly picking at the tape on my kunai while on watch. I knew that he wouldn't visit me now because he did not want to distract me during the exam. I had just recently rewrapped it, but I couldn't help it. His name was stuck in my mind. Each time I found myself thinking about it, I found myself peeling the tape from my lucky kunai.

"What are you doing dead last?" Sasuke's voice came from the dark beside me.


I turned to him my eyes taking a moment to fully focus on his figure. He shifted turning on his side and wincing slightly from sleeping on the ground. I watched as he rotated his arm trying to gain the feeling back in it. His eyes met mine in the dark. Even though I couldn't see him clearly I could feel the heat from his gaze. I was not in the mood to argue with him nor was I dumb enough to. That would expend precious energy that I would need to fight later.


"I'm thinking about my past." I sighed and put my kunai away. "Imagining how it will affect my future."


"You know that being Hokage will not be an easy dream. I don't understand why you'd want the damn job." he curled his knees up to his chest.

"What's wrong with wanting to protect your home and those you care about?" I asked. I didn't understand why he had to dash my dream all the time.


He turned to me again with a bit of anger in his eyes. "Nothing else matters. All you can rely on is yourself.Why would you want to protect a village full of people who hate you?" I sighed and looked down at the dirt in response. "Don't pretend that you can't see it."


"There are those that don't hate me. You don't hate me." I smiled softly at him.


"You rejected me..... I do hate you......I already told you that."


"Sasuke, you were asking me to go behind the back of some one I love. You can't honestly think I would do that can you? I work so hard just to get a glance and when I'm offered a love like that...why would I ruin it?" I placed a hand on his knee. "If things were different..... then you would understand, because out of all the people in the village.....it's your approval that I want most."

That being said I stood to stretch my legs out and then wake our teammate so that we could get a head start. She looked so peaceful that I didn't want to wake her, but the Chuunin exams were very difficult and only allowed for a few hours of sleep per day. We were all nervous and tired. It was all that the environment would allow us to feel. I knew we would all feel more at ease after this part of the Chuunin selection was done. There were lots of strong opponents here and that put all of us, Sasuke included, at ill ease. I wished that these exams would hurry up and conclude. I was anxious to see him. I had so many things I wanted to ask. The anticipation and the paranoya was murder on my stomach. Any regular mission and I'd be fine, but this was designed so that any error or flaw in your team could be fatal, not to mention we were being watched.


I vowed to do my best and to not fail any part of the exam. I wanted to prove to him that I was strong, strong enough to go with him. The fact that I thought about him almost all the time was pretty evident. Even when I was training I thought of his soft command for me to get stronger for him. I was thinking of him now, reminding myself to stay focused for him. Staying focused though was not enough to avoid a giant wind attack aimed at my team scattering us in all directions.


My team was no where in sight. Just as I was about to move to find them I giant snake came in my way. I guessed I had disturbed it when I came crashing though the trees. In my attempt to escape it, I was trapped. I was not going to end here was all I could think of inside that snake's belly, so I used my favorite skill to force my way out. That would have been so lame to die like that.


Just as I made it back to my team, I saw something that made my blood boil. Both of them were left vulnerable to this other creepy looking grass-nin. His body lay twisted around the branches of the tree like a serpent. Sasuke's eyes were widened in shock as he turned to me.


"Don't start anything! He's too strong!"


The cowardly bastard. He was offering to give our scroll away because he was afraid. Anger surged through me and I felt empowered. All I could see was the small scroll flying through the air and all I could think was keeping it from the other guy. I felt rage like I never had before directed at Sasuke as I punched him.


"You aren't Sasuke!"


"What the hell are you on about moron?!"

"This weak, cowardly bastard I see is not the Sasuke I know." I could hear the words dripping from my lips with a deep growl.

The urge to fight took over any thinking I had. For the moment, thoughts of my hunter were gone and a purely violent nature came out. The want to destroy this man came out. Each attack at him fueled it more. He knocked me back and as I was flying through the air slamming into trees, he turned his attack to Sasuke. My heart beat heavily in my ears at the thought of losing any of my team, but Sasuke especially. Blood spurted across my hands from the giant snake. His eyes met mine.


"You're not hurt are you, scaredy cat?"


SASUKE POV


Naruto's chakra caused my blood to run cold. I stood there staring at him in disbelief. The intent to kill had been just as great as that snake nin. I gazed at him frightened and ashamed. His eyes bore into to me as he asked the same question I had him a long time before. I must have been seeing things in my fear. His eyes were deep maroon and had elongated pupils. The sight was almost as unsettling as the enemy's snake-like attributes. His eyes widened as the long tongue of the other nin slithered around his body pulling him up. I watched in shock as he thrashed and cursed him. That long tongue reached up and slid Naruto's jacket up. I couldn't tell what he was doing, but it looked like he punched Naruto in the gut. I saw him go limp and the killing intent was gone from him. My blood froze as I saw Naruto flying through the air. I couldn't move and I know Sakura was yelling at me, but I didn't understand.

The thunk of a kunai hitting the tree jarred me. Sakura was still yelling, but this time her words struck a nerve. Suddenly the image of my brother killing my family replayed in my mind. I was not going to be a coward and run away. I was going to kill this man. If I was running scared now, there would be no hope of defeating Itachi, ever. Sharingan bled into my eyes as I felt empowered by my goal.


My mind raced with what I could do to defeat him. It stopped suddenly on an option I had not previously thought of. My trap wire would do the trick for this. Even with the sharingan activated I was already knocked around a bit so the Katon would probably be the only way to win. I looked around comparing the advantages of each of the different trees, and which ones I would be able to use for my plan. When he came at me again, I had figured out how to make it work. I ripped out the wire and pushed off towards him. It was unexpected and as the wire trapped him I took no time in firing a Katon at him. The smell of burning flesh and metal mixed together in a putrid scent invading my nostrils. I landed expecting him to not be able to attack again. An eerie laugh escape his lips as he began to peel away the melted flesh of his cheek revealing a large, gold, serpentine eye. My blood froze and I couldn't move as his body stretched toward mine. Pain shot through my neck as fangs bit into one of the tenkutsu piercing all the way through. Suddenly the use of my sharingan became excruciatingly painful and then everything became blurred. The last thing I remember seeing was Naruto's orange jacket before everything went dark.


Itachi invaded my thoughts. I kept replaying that night over and over again. Our parents struck down by his blade;it was one of the worst things I had ever seen. It was scary to think that I had aspired to be like him, the one who was the same age as I was now when he killed them all. My memories of Itachi soon turned to nightmares of the future. Itachi taking Naruto away from me and forcing him to do whatever he wanted. All the things my mind conjured up that Itachi could possibly do to my rival were horrible. My last thought was fighting against him to get Naruto back and for the revenge of my clan. The pain seemed so real as his kunai slashed against me cutting deeply.He bore me to the ground roughly Kunai at my throat.


"Why is there no difference?" He hissed, "Why are you still so weak?" His kunai was replaced by a rough squeezing hand. "Your hate is not strong enough making you weak, and now I shall take everything you love away."

Weak, powerless, worthless..........it's all your fault they died... you were weak......

Heat coarsed through my veins and my eyes snapped open. Beside me lay Naruto, still and quiet. Anger flared up within my being and I felt more power rushing over me. A bit away I saw Sakura sitting in the dirt battered and bruised.
Despite my concern for Naruto, it still seemed he was untouched since our last battle and Sakura, despite my annoyance with her was still my teammate.


"Who did this to you Sakura?"


Her eyes gazed up at me in sheer terror as I repeated myself. I assured her that I felt better and then barked the question out. She sat there too stunned to speak. The sound nin answered in a cocky voice grabbing my attention. It was going to be fun breaking him for threatening my team.

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Naruto POV

After all that in the forrest we had to fight rounds to determine who would be the remaining ones in the Chuunin examination. We had a short break now to train for the last part of the test.I was going to be stronger than anyone else there. I had planned on asking Kakashi-sensei to train me, but all he cared about was Sasuke. It kind of hurt knowing that my own teacher did not feel like training me and that he set me up with some loser. I guess I was a little bitter about it. He in turn was replaced by this pervert. The white haired teacher was quite funny and pretty helpful, as his aim was to help me learn to use Kyuubi's chakra, but still. He just didn't seem serious.


It was one of those nights after training where I just stood outside and mused on the world. I was standing in the shallow part of the river near Konoha's bath house area. The moon was full and I could feel a stiring inside me as I gazed at it. My team would probably find the sight of me silent and contemplative scary. A small smile came to my lips, but quickly left as I thought of HIM. The Chuunin exams were long and I never thought that I'd be wishing for them to be over. I mean, I was anxious to get back at Neji for hurting Hinata in the last round. She was my friend and I promised it, but that was not the only reason I was anxious to fight him. By competing against a genius such as him, I could measure my skill and see if I was ready to go with my hunter. He was the reason I wanted to finish this quickly. His promise to see me afterwards excited me.


A rustling behind me jarred me from my thoughts. As I turned I felt a kunai-calloused hand cover my eyes and then a puff of warm breath next to my ear. I relaxed as I recognized his soft whispers. I felt a smile curling at my lips as I felt his weight shift to pick me up. Instinctively I curled my legs around his body so that I was resting comfortably against him. His body shifted slightly and then I felt the pull of wind in my hair as he jumped across the rooftops with me securely in his arms. We stopped on a particular rooftop that I did not recognize and he sat down bringing me to rest comfortably in his lap. I turned slightly to look at his face, but all I could make out in the moonlight were his soft coal eyes.


"Your eyes aren't red tonight."


A smile came to my lips as I felt him nuzzling my neck through his cloak. "The full moon would reflect off of them causing too much attention."


I felt his hand slide slowly up my neck to rest on my cheek. I leaned into his gentle touch while whispering into his palm. "Your eyes are beautiful regardless of the color."

I closed my eyes as his hand tilted my face up. Soft warm lips covered mine. His kiss was gentle, yet demanding, and I opened myself to it. I had missed him so much since his last visit. I curled as close to him as I possibly could wanting to feel all of him. His lips grazed along my jaw and my neck sending warm tingles through my body. I could hear my own sounds of pleasure as his lips trailed along my neck. He stopped and applied a bit more suction to the juncture between my shoulder and neck. I felt a moan coming on, but I clamped down on it so it came out as more of a whimper.


I felt his body tense and then the cold of the night air on my neck. "What is it?"


He said nothing, but scooped me back up and descended to an alleyway between the buildings. I heard the sound of the nightly patrol ninja and I thought for sure we were going to get in trouble, but he pulled me close and covered my lips with his again. His tongue dipped between them asking for access that I was only too happy to give. He pulled away then gazed behind himself.


"They're looking for me. I better go before any disturbances are caused." He turned to leave, but I grabbed his cloak tightly.


"Are you still going to see me after the exams?"

I could almost hear the smile in his soft voice, "You know that I will, don't be foolish. Be strong." That said, he disappeared into the night.


A/n: Sorry this took so long. I had some health issues come up during break and then started school. I promise that I'll work a little more quickly.


To the ItaNaru comm: Sorry for taking so long, but I did promise this week, so here it is.


To my AFN's: Thanks for reading. I hope to always entertain you with my work.


TO my FFNs: You guys never cease to amaze me with the awesome response to this fic. I'm glad to see so many supporting it. Thank you very much.


To anyone who has done art for this or was inspired by it: I am so flattered to have such wonderful art in relation to this fic. Thank you so much.