Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Winter Release	By : Cepheus Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1260 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Edited:19/04/2011
Cepheus:thank you for reviewing, especially since the last chapter was such a cliff-hanger… :D
When the shinobi use hand seals, they don’t call the full animal name for each of them. You will find the translation at the end of the chapter. The jutsu belongs to me. Please do not steal it.
I am sorry for the short parts, but I needed them to fill into the plot.

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Rating: M
Warnings:yaoi, boy x boy relationship, angst, torture, and such. Mental as well. Flames will be used to warm up food.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.

“Talking”
‘Thinking’
–Flashbacks, memories, dreams–

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Winter Release
Chapter 06: Parting Ways

A loud whine had Kiba’s ears twitch as he slept, but he still didn’t wake up, simply shuffling around in bed.
The whine again, and Kiba pulled his covers up to his head in a vain attempt to quieten down the insistent noise.
The teen wasn’t a light sleeper, as his growls at night could keep other people awake, too, but the Inuzuka family was used to having dogs around, and they could sleep through anything… usually.
Still, for some strange reason, Kiba couldn’t tune down Akamaru’s whining, and it bothered him.
The whimper continued on insistently, louder and louder, and the Inuzuka heir growled deep in his throat, trying to make his dog remember who was the alpha between them. During mating season, it was ok for Akamaru to start whining because he could not be let out at night –this was expected from a dog and Kiba usually put up earplugs; but in the middle of winter, this was not allowed.
“Ok, you useless dog, you are going to feel the wrath of–” Kiba stopped dead in his tracks as he pulled away the covers and sat up on the bed.
Akamaru was now barking loudly, but he was not the only one. All the dogs of the Inuzuka family, which were quite a lot considering the many branches of the family and the number of members –at least a hundred dogs– were all howling or barking.
His anger forgotten, Kiba stood up, forcing the sleepiness away as he stared down at his companion, eyes filled with confusion. “Oi, Akamaru, what’s wrong?”
A loud bark was his reply, followed by a short burst of low yaps and whines that to any other person not of the family would have seemed meaningless noises, but that to him sounded like an articulate speech of sorts.
The Inuzuka prided themselves to have ninja dogs that were not summons, like Kakashi’s dogs were, so since their dogs couldn’t talk, the Inuzuka had managed to find a way to communicate with their animals and understand them anyway.
Akamaru was trying to get Kiba to notice that there was a faint trace of smoke in the air, so light that even Kiba’s enhanced senses couldn’t pick it up.
Kiba couldn’t feel it still, but by what his dog said, it was really faint and coming from the other end of the village; the dogs had picked it up and were trying to wake up the whole family, as if the smell was a trigger of some sort.
Kiba tilted his head to the side and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, but he still couldn’t feel the scent Akamaru was barking about, though the windows were close and the many scents around clouded his senses.
It has to be said that the dogs in the Inuzuka family, other than receiving ninja training to fight together with their owners, were also trained to sense dangers that targeted the village, such as natural disasters or fires.
They had been able to sense the earthquake that had almost destroyed Konoha over twenty years before, and it was thanks to them that when the buildings had started shaking and part of the village had crumbled down, most of the civilians had been safe.
Akamaru barked again, a chorus of the older dogs joining him, and Kiba slipped his jumper on, running out of his room and down the corridor, meeting up with his mother and her dog, Shiromaru.
The woman frowned and turned to her son, fangs glinting in the dark. “It’s strange, the dogs are reacting to a faint smell of fire but are unable to detect where it’s coming from”.
Usually during winter –although not in the presence of snow, but that was a rare eventuality in the Land of Fire anyway– it was normal for fires to start outside of the village, and the dogs had been trained to recognise by smell alone if the fire was coming from inside Konoha or outside, and if it would be a danger or not.
With such a faint smell, it was either really far away from Konoha, or destined to die out quickly, so this reaction from the dogs was quite weird.
“With all this snow, it’s a wonder there is a fire in the first place,” Kiba replied, yawning. His mother hummed under her breath, and Kiba walked outside of the house, looking around.
The Inuzuka lived in a small district, but thankfully all the neighbours were used to the noise of the dogs, so they would not be bothered by the cacophony of barking.
“Maybe it’s handmade this time,” Kiba’s mother muttered, stifling a yawn as her husband, Kiba’s father, joined them with his own dog, Kuromaru.
“Anyone pinpointing where the smell supposedly comes from?” the man asked as his dog sniffed around.
The three circled in the garden, calming down their dogs, who stopped barking loudly as they realised they had alerted their owners.
“It seems to come from somewhere in the village, but it’s weird… the dogs cannot understand where from, exactly,” Kiba’s mother frowned, unsure about it.
It wasn’t often that the dogs were not able to successfully tell where the smoke was coming from.
Kiba was about to close his eyes and sniff again, but his attention was caught by a group of flying moths that appeared a few feet away from him; he was no fan of bugs, but having an Aburame in his team had him able to become familiar with some species, and he recognized those insects at first sight. Glancing around with a frown, he saw the silent figure of Shino slipping out from the shadows, so he tapped Akamaru’s back and moved towards his teammate.
“Shino?” he called out, confused as to what the bug–boy would be doing around there so late at night. “Did the dogs wake you up? You live on the other end of Konoha!”
The other teen was, just like always, wearing his customary sunglasses, but Kiba was sure he’d seen the eyes behind the glasses narrow slightly at his words.
Shino had never taken down those glasses around him, so he didn’t have any idea of how his eyes were beneath that shield, and at times he still wondered how the other teen could even see at night or in the dark with them, but alas, this was just one of those secrets that were bound to remain so until the end of time.
Still, Kiba was one of the few who was trusted by an Aburame, and thus had been told how their eyes had grown terrible sensible to sunlight due to the Kikai bugs that were stored inside their bodies.
“My moths warned me that something is going on in Naruto’s neighbourhood,” he stated, snapping Kiba out from his train of thoughts.
“Naruto’s neighbourhood?” Kiba frowned. He didn’t even know where Naruto lived… “How come you know where he lives?”
“His apartment is close to a few wasps’ nests, and I like to go watch them,” was the placid answer.
Go figures.
“Wait, so you think there’s a fire around Naruto’s house?” Kiba asked, not sure what to do about this knowledge. “The dogs can’t understand where that smell of smoke is coming from…”
Kiba’s father moved to join them, whistling so that the dogs would calm down. “It might be nothing to worry about, but maybe you should go and have a look, Kiba. It might be just a prank, but the dogs are never this excited for a little fire…”
Sighing and shrugging, knowing there would be no more sleep until he caved in, Kiba nodded. “Whatever,” he muttered. “Let’s just make this quick”.
Akamaru barked and bounced ahead, followed shortly by a much less active Kiba, and to his surprise, by a silent Shino as well.
The three walked down the streets in silence, with Kiba glancing at his teammate in wonder every now and then.
Even if they were in the same team, Shino was a little bit of a mystery to him; at first he’d thought he would be another Sasuke, afraid that working with him would be impossible, but after some time, Kiba had realised that Shino was just silent, not brooding, and didn’t snob people like Sasuke instead did.
Shino was more of a watcher, silently taking in his surroundings and then blending in –he’d done well during their ambushing missions. After all, his family was made of spies and reconnaissance geniuses.
It took him a lot, but Kiba had grown to appreciate the silent company that the Aburame heir provided him, which was somewhat better than Hinata’s shyness –at least they managed to work well together.
After a few turns, with Shino leading the way and Akamaru barking to make them hurry up, Kiba finally was able to catch a whiff of the smoke smell, and stilled. It was the horrid, smoky smell of fire, and it didn’t feel like a prank–fire either –at least not the kind kids made up into a trash can.
The smell was heavy and it made his nose twitch, reminding him of burning wood… but he still couldn’t understand where it was coming from.
All of sudden, Akamaru started barking loudly and sprinted forwards, and Kiba, feeling that something was indeed wrong, followed him right away.
Shino stood still for a moment, but when a moth passed lazily over his head, landing on his hair, he darted off to follow his teammate and his dog.
The smell was getting stronger as the two teens followed the dog down an unfamiliar pattern, and as they turned around a corner, both stilled in shock at what they found there, blood frozen in their veins.
Thick and dark smoke was pouring out from underneath a closed door of a nearby apartment on the other end of the street, flames visible from the closed windows signalling that there was a fire inside.
It was clear the apartment was burning from inside out, and the stench of smoke was now overwhelming to Kiba and Akamaru’s noses.
The apartment’s building was old and ruined, but it looked like there was people living inside that place… and that wasn’t the worst, really.
There was a crowd of people watching.
Most of them were civilians, but some were also shinobi, and they were all forming a circle around the apartment, far enough not to be reached by the smoke, but close enough to be able to watch the flames dancing around behind the windowpanes.
Kiba was surprised to see that many of them wore satisfied expressions, or at least something akin to sinful pleasure in watching the fire grow, and it didn’t fit well with him.
Usually, when a fire caught on a house, the village would group together to help the owner and stop the fire from spreading… yet why wasn’t this happening now, too?
Why was no one helping?
Some shinobi were indeed looking cross at the sight, but the majority of the witnesses were actually just looking on with no expression whatsoever.
At his side, Shino stiffened. “Kiba, that’s Naruto’s apartment!” he hissed out, a trace of urgency and worry in his tone.
After all, watching a friend’s house burning down was an unsettling sight for anyone.
“What?!” Kiba’s head snapped towards him in shock, the heavy stench of smoke almost choking his enhanced senses. Akamaru barked to attract his attention, and what he reported caused the dog master grow pale all at once. “Shino! Naruto is still inside!”
Even though most of his face was hidden away by his glasses and high collar, Kiba could almost feel the furious expression on Shino’s face, aided by the strong wave of killer intent he expelled from his body, as the insects all over him moved restless around.
Kiba reacted quickly.
There was no time to lose, really –he had a feeling that no one of those present would help. After all, this was ‘Kyuubi’s house’, right? They wouldn’t help a demon.
Jumping up the stairs, Shino right behind him, Kiba reached the door in a hurry, barely aware of the disappointed glances of the civilians looking at the fire.
Some of them hurried away, ashamed of having been seen watching, while others grumbled and left as well, not wanting to be caught there if more aid were to arrive.
A few remained for a bit more, glaring at the two teens who were willing to help the demon, then shaking their heads at the unfairness of life, they also retreated.
Kiba pounded heavily on the door, coughing because of the smoke that was coming out from it, but it wouldn’t bulge. It felt like heavy stone against his fist. Shino tried to punch the glass of the window but strangely enough, it wouldn’t shatter either.
“Kiba, the bugs sense some sort of chakra binding spell on there,” he reported; Kiba’s eyes widened, realizing the fire had not been an accident. Someone had planned it! It was an assassination attempt!
“We have to disperse the jutsu! Or Naruto will… damn it, why didn’t he wake up?! The smoke and the heat should have alerted him!” Kiba growled, baring his fangs.
“Something is wrong, his chakra pulse is irregular,” getting himself under control again, Shino closed his eyes; using the bugs’ senses, he hurriedly checked the inside of the burning apartment. They had to work fast. “His chakra reserves are very low, and he’s sleeping still…”
Kiba’s eyes hardened up. “Then it’s up to us! Shino, go call the Hokage! Hurry up!”
Shino nodded, “will you be ok by yourself?” he asked.
When Kiba nodded at him, Shino’s shoulders relaxed and he moved down the street, disappearing behind a rooftop in two jumps. Kiba stared at his retreating back with a raised eyebrow, feeling the corner of his lips twitch upwards at the clear concern in the other teen’s voice before resuming his pounding on the door.
If this was an illusion technique, a simple ‘Kai’ would have sufficed to break the jutsu, but it didn’t take long for Kiba to realise that this was actually a high levelled binding jutsu meant to seal all the windows and the doors of the apartment.
It created a tight space completely shut from the outside, enough to keep whoever was inside from escaping, and making so anybody outside would notice what was happening only too late.
Hopefully, though, this was not too late yet.
Someone had tried to trap Naruto in his house like a mouse, to die out without a way out…
Trying to find a solution, Kiba snapped his fingers as he was reminded of a jutsu Kurenai–sense had taught them that worked well with resistant techniques such as the one blocking off Naruto’s apartment.
‘Gotta thank Kurenai–sense for this one!’ he thought, concentrating. His hands quickly flashed into a series of hand seals, trying to focus his chakra correctly as he did so, as releasing techniques weren’t exactly his favourite subject.
“Ino, Tatsu, U, No, Mi, Uma, I, Tora–” the chakra flared, and he closed his eyes. “Kai: Kara no Jutsu!”
A yellow flash exploded from his joint hands and hit against the door, expanding from the spot to the whole apartment like a wave or a ripple; away from Kiba’s eyes, the ripple reached the other end of the building, encompassing the whole premises and returning bouncing back, changing its colour to a dark brown.
The moment the ripple returned towards Kiba, it vanished into the door and disappeared.
Kiba blinked and with a twist, kicked the door; this time it slammed open without resistance at all.
A huge cloud of smoke enveloped Kiba’s frame instantly, and he coughed and ducked low, entering the apartment without wasting a second; stepping inside, he quickly moved to the closest window and crashed it open, so the smoke would get out faster.
He wasn’t going to have much time to get Naruto out before the whole place collapsed on them, giving the state of the apartment and the way the already crumbling walls looked.
‘Damn it,’he cursed inwardly as he made his way into the burning hell.

…–…–…–…

Shino was utterly silent as he ran through the streets of Konoha, passing by like a shadow.
Even his steps were quiet as he was used to being noiseless, a quality that a shinobi valued more than anything else; the bug wielder sprinted towards the Hokage tower as quickly as he could, attention focused only on his speed.
‘Naruto is quite unlucky,’he thought at one point, as he jumped from a tree to a rooftop.
And he truly was; Shino could understand, even if only partly, what Naruto had gone through during his childhood, and he was one of the few who could say that. Having bugs living inside his body, feeding off his chakra, made the Aburame different from other shinobi. As such, Shino himself had been shunned by his peers for most of his life for being a freak. This was, of course, not even half of what Naruto had to stand for being the Kyuubi’s container, but at least Shino understood him more than many others.
At least, despite having to wait until team placement to find friends outside of his own family (which didn’t consist in older shinobi, but actually people his age), Shino had a family that could stay at his side.
Naruto had always been alone.
When his Kikai started buzzing, disturbed by the spikes of chakra fizzling on his skin, Shino forced himself to calm down and control his rage. He could not understand just how strong a person’s hatred could be to make them try to burn someone alive.
No matter what, he could not understand, and more than that, he could not condone.
Differently from the Aburame, who had the ultimate decision whether to allow the bugs to reside inside their bodies as soon as their parents deemed them old enough (usually from five to seven years old), Naruto didn’t ask to be the container of a demon.
And as surely as that, Naruto was not the Kyuubi, either. He hadn’t had control over the events that caused the Yondaime to die to seal the Fox within him.
If a teen his age could understand that, how could others be so blind as not to see all of this?
It wasn’t fair.
Despite his cold exterior, and his apparent emotionless expression, on the inside Shino was burning with rage. It had taken him a while to see in Naruto more than a simple idiot blond who talked too much, and now that they were friends, he took pride in wanting to help him out.
“Aburame–kun?”
Shino halted in mid-step and twisted around, coming to meet a pair of chocolate brown eyes belonging to his former sensei at the academy –Umino Iruka.
The man had been away from the village for a while, sent on a seven–days mission and had apparently just gotten back.
Which, as a side note, meant he didn’t know anything about Naruto’s recent attack.
The man was standing in the middle of the street, looking unscathed but exhausted, and was holding a scroll in one hand; it was easy to forget that he was still a Chuunin of Konoha, and that at times he had to take on low–levelled missions to help with his meagre academy teacher salary.
Iruka–sensei was one of the few adults in Konoha that truly cared for Naruto’s life, and in his haste to get to the Hokage, Shino still had enough presence of spirit to stop and tell the man about the blond teen’s current situation.
He would surely be able to help Kiba.
“Iruka–sensei… someone tried to burn down Naruto’s apartment with Naruto inside it. Kiba is there trying to get him out, but he might need help. I’m going to the Hokage now,” he urged the man with a steely voice.
That said, he bowed slightly and without paying any more attention to the Chuunin, he jumped high and continued on his way to the Hokage Tower, feeling Iruka’s chakra levels spike up and disappear in the distance.
A few minutes later, Shino slammed the door of the Hokage office open, having ignored the guards at both sides of the door.
“Hokage–sama!”
With everything Naruto told his friends about the woman, Shino had expected to find her asleep on a pile of paperwork, perhaps with a few bottles of sake emptied at her feet, but he actually found her awake and staring with mournful eyes down at a photo in her hands.
“Hm?” Tsunade looked up at him, frowning and placing the photo face–down on the desk. “You are the Aburame boy, am I right? What are you doing here at this hour?”
“Tsunade–sama, someone set Naruto’s apartment on fire. My bugs detected Naruto’s chakra inside, so while Kiba remained there to get him out, I came here to call for reinforcements. Iruka–sensei is on the way as well,” he added as a second thought.
The Godaime Hokage’s face turned extremely pale all of sudden, one of her hands coming to rest on the table, almost as if to keep herself from stumbling on the floor, eyes wide in shock.
Someone had done… what?
“Let’s go,” she ordered, straightening up with a glare, and Shino could see with his own eyes why this woman had made it into the Hokage position.

…–…–…–…

Well, Kiba wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or not, but there wasn’t much in the apartment at risk of being burned away.
Not that it was a consolation of anything, of course.
Kiba had never been at Naruto’s house before, he had never cared enough for him to actually find out where the blond teen lived, after all… but now that he considered himself Naruto’s friend, he felt abashed at his own uncaring attitude.
Friends needed to stick together, right?
As he hurried through the small apartment, Kiba felt guilty; if his own house was set on fire, there were many things that he would regret losing to the flames, while in here… there was barely anything that spoke of Naruto in there.
Quickly dispelling this train of thoughts, he ran towards the small bathroom, eyes watering from the smoke and the absurd heat.
On his left, he spotted a sink and he downed onto it, opening the water jet and splashing his hair under the cold water before removing his shirt and soaking it as well. He ripped part of the drenched cloth and wrapped it around his mouth and nose, breathing through it.
His lungs hurt less, now.
He ripped another piece of his shirt and put on the rest, running to the only other room, finding it hard to see through the smoke now that it filled the room from floor to ceiling.
Coughing through the wet cloth, Kiba focused his eyes on a futon and on Naruto deeply asleep on it; he kneeled at his friend’s side, testing his wrist and feeling his heart beating erratically under his fingertips.
Naruto’s breathing was faint and shallow, and he looked actually terrible… and not just because of the smoke he was inhaling.
There were many cuts and ugly bruises and scratches visible on his arms and face, some of them looking fainter and fainter the more Kiba stared at them. Ah, that was why Naruto’s chakra was currently so low that he couldn’t wake up –he had probably trained all day, and now he was sleeping deeply, waiting for Kyuubi to heal his wounds.
It was eerie how easy it was to accept the fact that his friend had an ancient demon within that helped him heal. Kiba supposed that as a shinobi, and after seeing Gaara and other ugly things, a simple demon inside a seal wasn’t much of a shock.
That, or he just didn’t give a damn.
Naruto didn’t look like he was going to wake up anytime soon, especially since he’d probably inhaled a lot of smoke already…
Hearing Akamaru bark outside as an encouragement, Kiba reached out and wrapped the second wet handkerchief around Naruto’s face, then he lifted the boy up on his shoulders and made his way out. Despite looking so buff under that orange jumper, Naruto was actually not as heavy as Kiba had expected, but still heavy enough to make him grunt out.
Gritting his teeth in determination, Kiba held on Naruto’s unresponsive body and moved out of the room, keeping both himself and Naruto away from the fire and heading towards the front room.
Some of the ceiling crumbled down at his left side, causing Kiba to jump away quickly to avoid the fire and the slivers flying everywhere. “Shi–”
He heard a crashing sound from the general direction where he thought the bathroom was and realised the ceiling had already fallen down on there.
As he passed by, he threw a glance at the only table in the apartment, now burning easily through the flames, and noticed that on it there were two framed photos, quickly being eaten away by the fire as well.
On the left one, the Inuzuka could still make out Naruto’s team.
Grimly he stared as Sasuke’s face was quickly burned away, disappearing into the flames first; shaking his head, Kiba quickly ran out of the apartment, not waiting until the rest of the photo was destroyed. Shit.
As if this was some sort of signal, the moment he was out the whole structure collapsed down, and he tripped, colliding with the railing in front of the house as it gave away under his weight, sending him flying down.
He was caught in midair by a pair of strong arms that lowered him safely on the ground. Still clutching Naruto’s body protectively against his own, Kiba looked up, meeting the worried, pale face of Iruka–sensei.
“Kiba–kun!” Iruka gasped, checking the dog user to see if he was ok.
Suddenly flooded by relief at seeing a reliable aid, Kiba ripped the cloth away from his mouth and took greedy gulps of fresh air. “I’m fine, sensei, please check Naruto now!” he rasped out, finally releasing his hold on the blond and lowering him on the ground, worried at the paleness of his friend’s face.
‘You’d better be fine, loud mouth, or I swear I’ll come down to hell and take you back,’he growled in his mind as Iruka checked the blond boy’s pulse.
With his instincts still flaring up out of anger, Kiba felt his protectiveness over someone who basically belonged to his pack grow. He’d hunt down the responsible for this and–
“He seems to have breathed a lot of smoke, but he’s healing himself already,” Iruka sighed in relief.
Almost as soon as the words made it past his mouth, Iruka bit his lips and berated himself for having slipped so badly. He blamed it on his fatigue and on the worry Shino’s words had caused him.
Now, Kiba might start asking questions that he could not answer…
Busying himself with staring at Naruto’s unconscious body, Iruka noticed all the cuts and bruises already fading from his skin; Naruto was training really hard, and maybe he’d exhausted so much of his chakra that he hadn’t been able to wake up…
“Well, that’s a relief, then,” Kiba grunted, falling down next to the other two shinobi and grabbed his hair, ruffling it to get the soot away from it.
He was still angry –relieved by the fact that Naruto was fine, but still angry. He couldn’t believe that nobody had wanted to help at all… if Akamaru and the other dogs hadn’t alerted him, then…
“Damn it!” he yelled, attracting Iruka’s attention. “I can’t believe nobody tried to help! Are they so fucking blind that they can’t see that Naruto is not the demon?! Shit! Naruto is Naruto!” he gritted his teeth again, punching the ground hard.
Akamaru whined, covering his head within his paws.
“Language, Kiba,” Iruka said automatically… then his brain registered Kiba’s words and paled.
There was no mistaking of what Kiba had just said. The teen knew about Naruto’s… condition.
“How… when did you…” he didn’t even realise his grip on Naruto’s shoulders had tightened. When had it happened? Was Kiba the only one knowing, or did the others know, too?
Blue eyes fluttered open tiredly as Naruto was forced out of his unconsciousness by a strong grip around his shoulders; blinking and wondering what was going on, Naruto looked up and focused on the face of his favourite sensei holding him. at first Naruto was simply happy to see the man, but as he resurfaced from sleep completely, he frowned –Iruka shouldn’t have been in the village and.. he didn’t feel all that well.
Something was wrong –he felt cold and hot at the same time, his body hurt and his lungs were burning.
And more importantly, why was he staring up at the sky instead of the ceiling of his bedroom?
Iruka, not having noticed Naruto was slowly waking up, was lost thinking about all the things that had happened while he’d been out of the village; shocked that so much had been going on in the few days he’d been gone, at least he was reassured that Naruto was still alive.
Barely, but alive. Once again.
“Iruka–sensei… please… let go…” surprised by the sudden voice, Iruka almost dropped Naruto on the ground. Akamaru yipped and licked the teen’s fingers.
“Naruto! How are you feeling?!”
Naruto groaned and pushed himself up to a sitting position, rubbing his eyes. “Why is my throat so dry? What the hell happened?” shaking his head to clear it, Naruto coughed, feeling lightheaded. His lungs were still burning, and his nostrils were filled with a horrible stench of burning wood.
Looking up, he was absolutely surprised to see the remains of his house burning up right in front of him. “Hey, my house!” he cried in disbelief.
He coughed again, but with every cough his lungs were burning less and less, and it was easier to breath after a few minutes. He was still rather tired, but with a clearer mind, he could at least focus on the situation at hand. The happiness he’d felt when looking at Iruka’s face was dimmed by the shock of seeing his apartment on fire.
It wasn’t fair –what the hell had happened? His house was crumbling down right there, and with it, everything Naruto owned –even if it wasn’t much, it was still everything he had.
“We found your house like this with you inside, Naruto,” Kiba whispered, delicately deciding to address the fact that the fire had been started by someone later. Akamaru whined and nudged Naruto’s hand with his nose in an attempt to comfort the blond teen.
The teen stared at his house, stunned. He’d just lost the place he’d been living into ever since leaving the orphanage, and it had happened so suddenly he didn’t know what to feel. Yes, he hadn’t liked the house much, but it was still his house, after all.
And a small part of his brain knew what Kiba hadn’t mentioned –that the fire had been started by someone. There was no other explanation possible, since Naruto was sure the fire couldn’t have started all on its own.
He had expected to feel anger, or rage, or pain, but in truth, he felt just a vague annoyance. Maybe he was developing some sort of immunity to the hatred of the villagers, or maybe the amount of pain he’d been subjected under Tsukiyomi made him realise that nothing the people of Konoha could do would hurt him anymore…
It was a sobering thought nonetheless.
“Naruto!”
He turned around and watched as Tsunade ran towards him, followed by a silent shadow that Naruto recognised as Shino; the Hokage dropped on her knees at his side and quickly did a diagnostic jutsu, breathing out in relief when the results were negative –Naruto was fine.
“My house…” Naruto pointed at the burning apartment, vaguely wondering where he’d go now.
Tsunade’s eyes narrowed. Maybe Naruto was physically fine, but mentally? He’d been subjected to stress after stress in the last few days, and now…
She couldn’t accept this attitude of the Konoha citizens anymore. Someone would pay.
For sure.

…–…–…–…

Jiraiya lowered his head and sighed, trying to ignore Tsunade who was sitting right in front of him.
Every time Naruto had needed him, he had not been there… at least he’d been doing real research on Akatsuki instead of peeping into an onsen, not that it was much of a consolation.
He’d returned to the village in the early morning, around five AM, only to find that Naruto’s apartment had been burned down by some wannabe arsonist, and now the blond Jinchuuriki was sleeping in the Hokage Tower, guarded by a grim looking Iruka and a worried Shizune.
Naruto had said he didn’t need to have those two breathing on his neck, but with Iruka sternly refusing to leave his side, he had relented, too tired to discuss with his former teacher.
After asking the Inuzuka heir and the Aburame heir what had happened, Jiraiya had listened to their report with narrowed eyes; someone had placed a binding jutsu on the house to prevent anybody from finding out until it was too late, and once again, Naruto had been the one to suffer.
Naruto had trained by himself all day, which explained why he hadn’t even noticed as the house burned around him.
This was actually why Jiraiya was facing Tsunade. Naruto couldn’t just spend a day wasting his chakra around without supervision. It wasn’t acceptable. And with the village in an uproar, becoming more daring every day passing by, Jiraiya didn’t feel like Naruto was safe in Konoha anymore.
If anything, the sennin had expected Akatsuki could attack, but he had not thought Konoha’s own shinobi would turn their back on Naruto like this.
This was what had chased Jiraiya away from the village the first time. Their refusal to see the truth beneath the surface.
Finally looking up, the toad sennin fought a silent battle against Tsunade’s stern glare; the woman knew what he wanted to do, but wasn’t willing to let Naruto go. After all, Tsunade had allowed her loved ones to leave her side twice, and both times they had returned dead
She didn’t want Naruto to be the third on that list.
In such a short time, both Sannin had come to care for that hyperactive ninja that ran around claiming he would become the greatest Hokage ever, and that bond was so strong they could barely stand it. They cared for Naruto because he had forced them to open up and believe in him.
Jiraiya and Tsunade had never planned to care for someone ever again. Caring only brought hurt and pain in the end, they knew this from experience.
The Legendary Sucker had travelled far, only concentrating on bets and money and sake, and the toad sennin had retired into his shell, trying to forget and hide behind a mask of a perverted old man.
Tsunade loved her apprentice Shizune dearly, even though at first she had accepted to train her only out of obligation towards someone else (not to mention Sakura begging her to be trained as her apprentice as well, as the pink haired kunoichi had made it clear the previous day) but it was a different love altogether.
Shizune had become part of Tsunade’s life before, and she had never tried to change Tsunade or make her face her past..
Naruto had. And that was why he was so important for the Godaime Hokage. He was the emblem of all the changes the woman had gone through, accepting her past and her losses.
Jiraiya, too, had changed since meeting Naruto. Both of them had failed many times in their past, and had ran away, refusing to face their mistakes, but thanks to that loudmouthed ninja, they had repented and started healing.
They hadn’t expected to care for him and want the best for him, almost as if they were his parents. Tsunade and Jiraiya both knew they would never regret it
“There is no other way, Tsunade, and you know it,” he stared at her, all traces of his carefree attitude gone from his face. For a moment he looked way older than he really was, and that change reflected in Tsunade’s eyes as well.
“But… is it really necessary?” she knew it was but…
“Tsunade, he needs to leave, at least for a while. I don’t think it would be good for him to stay after that. He has friends, but he can’t stay. I will bring him to travel with me, and I will train him so he will have a purpose again. I will take care of him and help him advance instead of watching him self destruct”.
The Godaime Hokage sighed.
“Besides,” Jiraiya continued without allowing her a moment to counter his words, “you will be able to find who burned down his house and punish them. If Naruto remained here, he would never allow you to do that. It’ll serve as example to the rest of the civilians and shinobi who think they are above the Third’s law”.
Tsunade’s eyes hardened in anger. Jiraiya was right. Naruto needed to go away.
It was for the best.
“You’ll take care of him, will you?” she asked biting her lips. She hated being emotional –despite the horrible loss of control she had while fighting against Orochimaru, she was usually one for a steely control over her emotions… but when it came down to Naruto, she always had a hard time controlling herself.
Her little adopted brother was going through a lot, but was still walking with his head held up high.
“You know the answer to this question,” he replied, equally stern. “He looks so much like him… and yet, they are completely different…”
“You also know I’ll break your ribs if you turn him into a freaky pervert, right Jiraiya?” Tsunade stared at him, lips twitching upwards for a moment. But her eyes were holding another kind of threat. ‘Let him be harmed by anything or anyone, and I will personally castrate you with my bare hands’.
Jiraiya shuddered at both threats. He couldn’t decide which one was worst.
“I know, Tsunade–hime,” he smirked back. He was dead serious. He would die before he let someone, especially Akatsuki, hurt Naruto.
So, it was settled. Naruto would join Jiraiya on a trip for the following three years.

…–…–…–…

“Where are we going to go, then?”
Well, this wasn’t really what Jiraiya had expected at all from Naruto.
Maybe, he would have expected the teen to jump up and down laughing, commenting how he would definitely love to join Jiraiya on a three–years trip, as long as the Ero–sennin promised to train him.
Or maybe, he would have expected Naruto to refuse bluntly, saying he didn’t want to leave, and that he would get strong on his own instead.
This was… somewhere in the middle, really, but too calm to be coming from Naruto.
Naruto didn’t exactly look exhilarated to leave, but he did look relieved, perhaps pleased, and to a certain extent, the perverted sennin could understand. And yet, he hadn’t reacted as Jiraiya had expected him to –this wasn’t the Naruto he knew.
For a moment Jiraiya was afraid that finally, what had continued happening had taken its toll on the blond and tamed his spirit. This didn’t sit well with the Sennin
Strengthening his resolve, Jiraiya decided to bring the old Naruto back.
“Anywhere you want, Naruto, unless you’ve been there already,” Jiraiya replied, smiling. “I will dedicate myself to train you. Akatsuki’s last attempt to catch you was… somewhat unexpected, but I carefully tested my sources and I can safely say, this time, they will not attack for the next few years”.
Naruto hummed, nodding softly. “Ok, then it’s settled,” he stated, looking satisfied. “I need to get stronger… and get Sasuke back,” he added after a moment.
Jiraiya nodded, although deep in his heart, he had already given up on the last of the Uchiha. Just like he had once given up on Orochimaru, he felt that young Sasuke would not accept to be dragged back to Konoha.
And yet, if that was part of what Jiraiya needed to acknowledge for Naruto’s sake, then so be it. He sounded so sure of himself, Jiraiya wanted to believe in him, too. Of course, Jiraiya had no knowledge that Naruto was already aware that Sasuke would resist being dragged back, but the blond didn’t mind the challenge at all.
Besides, he wasn’t doing it for the sake of bringing Sasuke back –he’d promised himself and Sakura that Sasuke would come back, willingly or not. Not to mention Naruto didn’t want to let his teammate drown in that self–appointed fate.
Still, aware of Naruto’s real intentions or not, Jiraiya still wanted to believe that even if he hadn’t managed to get Orochimaru back, maybe Naruto, against all odds, would succeed.
“Say, what about a visit to Sunagakure first?” the pervert sennin offered with a bright smile.
Naruto’s eyes lit up with happiness, and Jiraiya was inwardly proud of himself. Yes, this was more like the Naruto he knew.
“We’re going to see Gaara?” Naruto looked up at the older man for confirmation.
“Yeah, sure,” was the amused reply.
Naruto beamed at his new sensei and nodded in thanks. He knew that Jiraiya was trying his hardest to make him happy, and Naruto was grateful for the offer. He knew that despite the spying at the hot springs and the perverted books, the man really cared.
Even though he guessed the man thought Naruto was sad. He wasn’t. Realising that he was finally stronger than whatever the villagers threw at him was really a boost to Naruto’s self, and his less boisterous attitude was simply a reflection of his dedication to his training.
He simply wanted to get strong enough to get Sasuke back and show his village what he was made of.
On the matter of visiting Gaara, he as truly happy about that. Gaara was one of the people Naruto never had time to properly talk with, and since the two shared something that no one else could fully understand, Naruto wanted to show the other teen that he wanted them to be friends.
“I live to love myself,”Gaara had said to him. “And myself alone”.
Naruto understood, but did not share this point of view.
Unfortunately for the Sand–nin, Gaara never had a single friend, and while Naruto now had people backing him up, he was afraid that for Gaara things hadn’t truly changed.
But he was determined to show the other Jinchuuriki that he was a friend, and that he cared.
Offering the white haired old man with another bright smile, Naruto stood up from his seat and looked out of the window, where the Hokage Mountain was. With a determined smirk, he offered the silent head of Yondaime a closed fist.
‘Look at me, hero of Konoha,’he thought. ‘No matter the hatred. No matter the pain your action caused me to feel… I will become strong. Stronger than you’.strong’.
The Ero–sennin noticed the gesture and Naruto’s smirk and felt a painful twinge in his chest. One day, he reassured himself. One day, I will tell you…
“Come on you lazy bum, I believe you have to say goodbye to a few people…” he decided to say instead.
Naruto frowned and thought about it. He didn’t want to say goodbye. He wasn’t going away forever… and he hated goodbyes. Still, he was going to leave for over three years, so maybe they deserved to know… and yet…
“Maybe we should just leave!” he laughed sheepishly.
It was better to just concentrate on his training, and not get depressed with goodbyes…
“Naruto, don’t be stubborn… it will be a while before you can see your friends again and they deserve one last chance to talk with you, ne?”
Naruto pouted, but had to admit that the old pervert was actually right. His friends cared, and would probably resent him if he left without telling them… besides, he really did want to see them one last time…
“Come on, Naruto, I called them already and they’re waiting for you outside… maybe you should go down before they come up and skin you alive, hmm?”
“What?!”
…
Peering out of the window, Naruto grunted at the older man.
They were really down there.
Naruto ran out of the Hokage tower, sheepishly smiling at his friends crowded there to see him go.
“How troublesome,” Shikamaru muttered, hands in his pockets as he glared at his friend. His scowling grimace brought a smile on most of the other teens’ faces, and even Neji’s lips twitched upwards.
“Naruto–kun… I hope you will take care…” Hinata blushed slightly at her crush, fidgeting and tapping her fingers together. ‘If you are going to become strong, Naruto–kun, I will as well!’
Not that she had the courage to say that loudly.
Neji inwardly raised one eyebrow at his cousin’s antics and sighed. Finally able to let go of his rancorous feelings without having to deny his protectiveness towards Hinata, Neji was going to see that nobody could hurt her again.
He finally had a family again, and it was all thanks to Naruto, and for that, the blond had all of Neji’s respect.
“When you get back, I am going to challenge you to a fight, Naruto,” he told the younger teen. “And I will win this time,” he added confidently.
Naruto flashed him a grin.
Lee started crying and babbling about the flame of youth once again as the blond waved at the rest of his friends, lastly looking at Sakura.
The pink haired girl locked eyes with Naruto for a moment, serious and collected, then she smiled brightly. “Take your time, Naruto. When you get back, I will be strong as well,” she assured him.
Naruto nodded, trusting her now that she had asked to be Tsunade’s apprentice.
He was glad he had them. Thanks to their support, he had been able to face all his troubles and grow stronger because of that. They had accepted him, and he would forever be grateful to them.
“You just wait and see!” he smiled at them, feeling determined and sure of himself.
With the sun shining above him, the excitement of a new journey ahead of him and the prospect of meeting with Gaara, Naruto was positive that luck was finally at his side. gone were the haunted nightmares, gone was the feeling of not being good enough…
The glass was looking half–full again.
Shaking his head, glancing up again at the stone faces of the four Hokage staring down at him, he suddenly felt like he could accomplish anything and everything.
“I am going to grow strong, and once Sasuke is back, I will accompish my dream, and become the new Hokage,” he stated clearly. He didn’t yell it, he didn’t bounce around stupidly as he said it. His tone was one of finality, and his friends nodded at him.
He had friends. He had a goal again. He could understand, and he was going to show it to the world.
‘That’s my way of ninja’he finished inwardly with a smile.
And that was simply the truth.
Iruka hugged him (much to the blond boy’s dismay, who felt his cheeks go red for embarrassment as Kiba snickered, pointing at him), then his friends wished him good luck for the training. A few adults were there too, Tsunade and Shizune and even Ebisu, with his back against the wall and a sour expression; Naruto was sure that he wasn’t there because he wanted to but simply because Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon were there, but it was good anyway.
A certain copy–nin was hiding inside a tree just above the teens, uneasy about going down to say goodbye, since he still wasn’t used to displaying emotions in public, but after all, Naruto meant a lot to him… like Obito, like Rin.
This was his student leaving, and yet he didn’t move.
As he was still wondering whether to join the others or not, Naruto turned around and glanced up at the tree, smiling cheekily at Kakashi, who blinked in surprise and then returned the smile, even though his mask hid it.
‘Come back stronger, Naruto,’he silently told the teen.
“Let’s go, Ero–sennin!” Naruto called out, receiving a punch on his head for his nickname.
“I told you to stop calling me that, stupid kid,” Jiraiya grumbled, following him down the street.
With a smile, Naruto waved at his friends and nodded to himself. It hadn’t gone too badly, in the end, not as sad as he’d thought it would be; besides, Lee’s crying was somewhat amusing.
Then they were off.

…–…–…–…

Shikamaru grunted, then yawned.
His yawn continued for a long time, until Neji thought that his jaw would just fall off from the strain, then he slumped down on the grass as if his body had lost all energy to keep upright, completely ignoring the white eyed teen who was grimacing down at him.
“You are really hopeless you know?” Neji muttered, fighting the desire to roll his eyes.
Caught on an impulse, the Hyuuga had followed the lazy genius up to his usual cloud–gazing spot, and both had kept completely silent as they walked, lost in their thoughts.
Neji wasn’t sure why he’d bothered going with Shikamaru –it wasn’t like the two of them had anything in common other their friendship with Naruto. They weren’t even in the same team!
“It will be quieter now, with Naruto gone,” Shikamaru commented without looking at Neji, instead gazing up at the sky while his fingers played with the grass under his body.
It was a calm day. Silent and calm.
Neji felt some sort of annoyance at Shikamaru speaking like that, but didn’t show it as he flopped on the grass with practiced grace, peering at his companion with darkened eyes.
“It might do him good,” Shikamaru continued without bothering to see if Neji was listening or not. “I think I will use this time to check on who burned down his house, and see that they are properly punished, too. Care to help?”
“You sure are attached to Naruto,” Neji muttered in reply, surprised that the lazy teen would do anything that required moving on his own.
He wasn’t sure why, but his tone had expressed some sort of accuse towards Shikamaru, and Neji wasn’t sure why. If anything, he was glad Naruto had so many people supporting him.
“Naruto is one of my first friends,” Shikamaru replied, a tilt of his lips showing his amusement. “Of course I care for him,” he added.
For a moment, his gaze grew distant, as he recalled his very first meeting with that loudmouth. It was a dear memory to him, and one he wasn’t ready to share with anyone, but it made him smile warmly.
Then, as his smile twisted into a smirk, Shikamaru gently nudged Neji’s arm. “What is it to you? Are you perhaps jealous and crushing on Naruto?”
Neji flushed crimson –quite an achievement for the laziest teen in town– and shook his head, looking away in shame. Shikamaru felt satisfied, wondering idly if he could get anything out of the Hyuuga that he could use as blackmailing material.
“I–I am not jealous, nor… nor crushing on Naruto,” he denied fervently, then narrowed his white eyes, contemplating something. “Are you?”
Shikamaru’s smirk widened, shaking his head softly. He really had to admit that for being a prodigy, the Hyuuga surely didn’t know where to look.
“No, you troublesome Hyuuga, I have no interest in Naruto whatsoever,” he replied.
His blunt, honest answer confused Neji further, not sure how they had gotten into such a conversation nor why he was feeling oddly relieved to hear that.
He really was not harbouring romantic feelings towards Naruto, and respect had nothing to do with that either, so why was he smiling slightly? He didn’t really care who the blond teen fell for –hoping though that it would be someone that would respect Naruto, otherwise Neji would be sharing a few words with them…
Shikamaru watched Neji closely, reading the older teen’s emotions flashing in the white orbs in a way that would have left many shinobi in Konoha in envious awe; Neji had relaxed more, fingers idly caressing the grass, and he hadn’t removed his elbow either, so Shikamaru was still touching him.
Really, Neji needed to be more aware of his surroundings, or he’d get easily taken advantage of…
“You are a troublesome person, Neji,” Shikamaru stated, still smirking.
Then, he grabbed Neji’s arm and quickly tugged him down.
The raven haired teen fell heavily on top of Shikamaru, squeaking in a rather undignified way at being pulled around (even if he would deny having squealed like a girl if someone were to ask him), but found himself speechless then, eyes meeting Shikamaru’s brown ones.
The brown was deep and of an unusual shade, and it somehow made Neji stop squirming, caught and not quite wanting to move anymore. They didn’t look bored as usual, they looked… mischievous, actually.
“Shik–”
All of sudden, Neji felt one of Shikamaru’s hands tread into his hair, pushing him down, and much to his shock, he didn’t resist, and his lips met with Shikamaru’s ones.
‘What the f–’
All thoughts ceased at the contact; the smooth texture of Shikamaru’s lips against his own was somewhat pleasant and unexpected, but Neji didn’t really mind, and instead of pushing away and demanding to know what was going on, he simply held still, enjoying the feeling.
Without pulling away, Neji slowly parted his lips and licked at the other teen’s ones, further tasting him; Shikamaru didn’t seem to mind either, because he hummed appreciatively and parted his lips as well, offering Neji more to taste.
Slowly, almost hesitantly, Neji deepened the kiss, concentrated on the feeling of Shikamaru’s mouth and lips, craving more as he deepened their kiss, fuelled by a sudden need to get more.
Neji kissed back, one of his hands grabbing Shikamaru by his waist and placing himself more comfortably on top of the other teen, his other hand holding on the lazy teen’s shoulder.
The Nara heir hummed again, more of a groan this time, and Neji smirked into the kiss. He quite liked that sound.
They parted without a sound, cheeks flushed, and stared at each other contemplatively, almost as if analyzing each other’s reaction.
Seconds later, Neji was kissing him again, pushing Shikamaru down on the grass and assaulting his mouth, and Shikamaru didn’t really mind at all.
Not even when he realised that he’d have to wash the bark and the grass out of his hair afterwards.
The thought actually made him smile.

…–…–…–…–…–…–…

Cepheus:hmm, so nobody was wondering why I hadn’t mentioned Iruka at all lately :D but you still get to know where he was anyway.
I hope you were satisfied, there was angst, and now Naruto will be under Jiraiya’s control… who can guess the mayhem? Or not… :D Next chapter… Gaara?
Please drop me a review!
Translations from Japanese:
Inu, tatsu, u, no, mi, uma, i, tora– Dog, dragon, hare, rat, snake, horse, boar, tiger.
Kai: Kara no jutsu– Release: Void Technique.
Sensei– in case you didn’t get it before, that means ‘teacher’.
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Winter Release