Change

Naruto landed on Iruka’s porch, his sandal clad feet making a hollow thump as they made contact. ‘Well…I guess this is it. Time to put on the happy mask and make my surrogate mother happy. Heh, mother, that’s funny. Iruka is really like a mother to me I guess, always making sure I ate properly and got a good night’s sleep. I owe him this visit, if nothing more.’

With his mind set that he was actually doing the right thing, he walked up to the door and gave it a little rap with his knuckles, knowing that Iruka would hear it, after all, he dealt with mischievous little ninja all day, so his hearing was well trained enough to catch a paper airplane leaving a small hand and heading toward his back.

It only took a minute or two for a call of ‘coming’ to reach Naruto’s ears. He began to fidget with his sleeves, pulling them down and trying to make them symmetrical. Once he was sure they were equal down to the last thread he pulled the hem of the bottom down a bit, not wanting to look like a complete slob in front of his old teacher.

The door opened slightly, and the sound of a chain lock being pulled aside was heard as well as mumbled cursing about over paranoid idiots who insisted on putting a useless lock on the door. Finally the door fully opened, and standing before him was his old and much adored teacher from a time long ago.

“…Naruto?” came the astonished voice, brown eyes were wide and focused on the blond in front of him. “Is it really you?” came the question, choked by raw emotion in the man’s voice.

Naruto plastered a big grin on his face, raising his arms up and letting out a cry of “Yep! It’s me without a doubt! The number one ninja and of course your best former student.” He was about to go into another rant when he felt himself being tugged into a hug by Iruka. “Ca-can’t b-b-breath…” gasped out Naruto.

“Oops, sorry Naruto. Its just been so long and-How could you leave without saying goodbye?! A note! A NOTE! That’s all the notice I got. I looked for you for days and you didn’t turn up anywhere and the Hokage won’t tell me where you’ve been, only that you decided to transfer to a new village…and and, well, Naruto where on earth were you?!” Iruka let out the whole tangent in one breath, and began inhaling deeply, releasing Naruto from the hug of doom in the process.

“I know, I was so totally wrong. But, if I had told you, you would have stopped me. You need to understand, I HAD to go, there wasn’t any option for me. I was at the end of my leash and had no real choice, I just needed to…escape. Please forgive me.” By the end of it his head was bowed down in shame.

“Oh Naruto, look, I was upset, but never mad. Don’t worry I know you had your reasons for leaving and someday I hope you’ll tell me." He let out a sigh, and with it went his terse expression, replaced with a hearty grin. "But for now, lets put that behind us and get something to eat. You still eat ramen?”

“Of course! This time, I’ll pay! I need to start working off that tab of ramen you’ve paid for when I was younger. Let’s go!” he took off almost immediately kicking up dirt as he went.

Iruka ran after him, thinking ‘Oh Naruto, what am I going to do with you?’ he sighed and hurried to catch up to the loud mouthed ninja. ‘But I know you’re hiding something Naruto, you put on that happy front, the same one you used when you were younger. But…its stronger now. You’re hiding something more, and I can’t figure you out.’

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Sasuke was brooding around his estate, gritting his teeth and thinking about that damn old woman Tsunade. Ever since he got back to Konoha he had been kept under a tight watch, with anbu following him around constantly. It was downright infuriating.

But after a few years his constant companions had slimmed down until the surveillance stopped completely. Trust had been regained. He could have avoided the whole issue if he had remained with Orochimaru, but he had changed all of that. It was all his fault.

Sasuke nearly chipped his own tooth, his teeth grinding against each other even harder after that last thought. It was always about him. That was why he left Orochimaru, because all his aspirations were ruined as soon as the words left that damn fools mouth.

Sasuke shook his head, black hair bobbing and quickly made his way into the kitchen to get himself some tea to calm his raging thoughts.

‘Why did he have to come and suddenly begin spewing words of endearment and love? Because of him my plot to seek revenge became meaningless. Damn it, how long does that tea take to boil?’ he cursed and glared at the teapot, hoping the heat from his glance would make it whistle faster.