Life Goes On, Naruto

Life Goes On, Naruto

By: ladygizarme
Beta: ren
Summary: Ninja life isn’t easy. Things don’t always turn out how you expect, and sometimes sacrifices must be made. It may seem unbearable, but life goes on and you must decide: Will you wallow in regret and let life pass you by, or face things head-on?
Main Pairing: KakaNaruKaka
Spoiler Warnings: Manga spoilers at least through chapter 294. After that, this story will become largely AU, though spoilers of any and all up-to-date manga chapters are possible.
Rating: Adult++ (for future content)
Story Warnings: WIP, some Angst, Language, Violence, Shounen-ai/Yaoi/M/M, Oral, Anal

A/N: This story was written three years ago, in response to Houseki’s KakaNaru challenge. At that time, I had planned to post it for her birthday, but ended up focusing on a different story and neglecting this one. So here it is… three years later. I’ve had to make a few minor adjustments because of certain manga events, but mostly I’m keeping to my original outline despite…certain things which I don’t want to say right now. :p

Anyway, enough of my rambling… Happy Birthday, tomotan!!!

Chapter One:

Uzumaki Naruto sat at his kitchen table staring down at a cake. Actually, staring wouldn’t exactly be the right word. Glaring would probably fit better. Yes, he was glaring at the cake. In fact, if that cake were alive, and looks could kill, that cake would be dead as a… cake. Yes, indeed, that would be one dead cake.

Now, more important than whether cakes can die of Uzumaki death glares, would be the reason this cake was receiving said death glare. Well, if you were to take a look at the top of the cake, you would instantly know why. Or, at least, if you knew the history of Uzumaki Naruto, you would know why.

This particular cake had one Uchiha Sasuke’s face decorated on it.

It also had candles on it. Eighteen red candles, to be exact. They were lit; had been for awhile, and much of the recesses around the Uchiha-face decoration had been filled with drops of red wax. The frosting on the sides was also beginning to melt, due to the high temperature and humidity of the season. Today was July 23rd, after all.

Still, Naruto continued to glare at it, seemingly taking no notice of the effects of the heat or the burning candles.

Finally, he seemed to come out of his daze, and blinked. A couple stray tears that had collected in his glazed over eyes dropped unceremoniously from his lashes, but Naruto took no notice. Taking a deep breath, he blew out the candles. Hot wax flew with the sudden breeze, and droplets found their way across the table, staining some empty ramen cups, a carton of milk, and some old newspapers and scrolls in the process.

Naruto took no notice of this, either.

“Happy Birthday, Sasuke. You bastard,” he muttered to the cake.

It took his insult in stride. After all, he was only human. The cake couldn’t blame him for his bitterness. He didn’t have all that sugar in him to keep him sweet like the cake did. Judging from the state he’d let the cake get in, he wouldn’t have much sugar in him any time soon, either.

The cake’s judgment proved as flawless as ever, as Naruto suddenly stood up from his chair—a loud, screeching, scraping noise erupting as the chair slid across the floor to the wall—reared back his fist, and punched the cake. It was a quick death; the cake appreciated the blond boy’s mercy, though it hoped that maybe, in death, it could serve some good to the boy. Maybe he would lick the remnants from his fist and get some of that much needed sugary sweetness into him!!

The cake’s hopes were dashed as Uzumaki Naruto grabbed a nearby towel and wiped the mess off his hands.

“Bastard,” he muttered again, before turning from the cake and heading out of his small apartment.

No one heard the cake cry.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*

A few hours later, Naruto walked the streets of Konoha seemingly aimlessly, neither wanting nor needing a destination. He’d hoped to work his current frustration out at the training grounds, but after the first hour it still wasn’t helping. Training just didn’t have the same effect when you had no one to spar with. Kage Bunshin didn’t count. By the second hour he was only becoming more frustrated and angry, and by the third he decided to call it a day, starting this supposedly aimless stroll through the village.

In the back of his mind, though, he knew where he would eventually end up—it was where he always ended up every morning—but that didn’t mean he couldn’t take his time getting there. It wasn’t like anyone would be waiting there for him. The house, in fact that whole section of the village, had been deserted for many years now.

As had become a habit for him in the past year or so, he determinedly ignored the fact that he did have somewhere he should be, where people were waiting for him, and it wasn’t where he was headed. In the mood he was in today, he didn’t particularly feel like going anyway.

He found his way to a familiar bridge—the one he and his fellow ninjas of Team Seven would often meet on to wait for their eternally-tardy sensei, Hatake Kakashi. Glaring at Sasuke’s usual waiting spot, Naruto turned his back to it and leaned over the side to watch the koi in the water below. His interest in the fish dwindled very quickly, however, and soon he found his feet moving ever closer to that abandoned part of the village. The large chunk of land that still, after all these years, retained the name and symbol of the Uchiha clan.

As he entered the Uchiha estate, Naruto could hear the soft crunch of dry earth under his sandals with each step he took, hear the sadness in the wind that blew through the empty buildings, even hear his own heart beating in his ears; it was so quiet. Yet, it was no longer eerie to him, walking through the desolate streets, past the abandoned shops and houses. Indeed, he had walked this path so many times since he’d returned to the village, it seemed almost a haven to him now. Though it was by no means calming; more a place he came to brood, knowing no one would bother him here. In fact, simply walking past the gate posts bearing the Uchiha fan served to spark his distemper.

Closer and closer, Naruto’s feet traveled along the abandoned street, leading him to his final destination. He didn’t even watch where he was going anymore, simply knowing the way by heart; he could do it with his eyes closed. Usually, as was especially the case today, Naruto’s mind was too preoccupied with its brooding to pay attention anyway. So it took almost a full minute before he even registered the other presence waiting for him as he reached the entrance to the former home of Uchiha Sasuke.

“Running a bit late today, aren’t we?”

The sudden voice in the endless silence almost made him jump, but he squashed the reaction with only a slight twitch of his muscles. It did not go unseen by the speaker, however.

“Really, Naruto, despite all these years of being Konoha’s Number One Surprising Ninja, you still surprise easily,” the voice spoke lazily, though there was a hint of mirth in the tone.

“You’re one to talk about being late, Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto grumbled, ignoring the barb about his astonishment. “What are you doing here?” Naruto asked, annoyed, a scowl fixed to his face when he lifted his gaze to the masked jounin leaning against Sasuke’s house.

“I came looking for you. I figured you’d be here…”

Naruto winced slightly at that. Since when was he so predictable? Irritably he asked, “So, what did you want?”

“I’m here to give you a message from Tsunade-sama,” Kakashi replied in answer, pulling a small scroll from a pouch on his vest and tossing it to Naruto. “You’re to meet with her and the village elders this evening.”

Opening the scroll, Naruto read over its contents and looked back up at the silver haired Jounin. “Time for the probation hearing already, huh?”

One visible eye closed as Kakashi gave a slight nod, then opened to half-mast, lazily regarding the blond ninja in front of him.

“Is this it?” Naruto raised a brow at the other man as he rolled the scroll closed and put it in his own pouch. “Tsunade-no-baachan could’ve sent this with a messenger bird. Why’d she have you deliver it?”

Kakashi paused before answering, “…I asked to deliver it.”

Naruto gave him a suspicious look, “Why?”

“Because,” he began, standing up straight from his leaning position, one black eye making direct contact with two ocean blue. “I have another message for you.”

“From who?”

“From me.” Casually, Kakashi walked toward Naruto.

Not sure why, but unable to stop himself, Naruto backed up as the silver haired man advanced on him. As if to make up for his uncharacteristic show of weakness, Naruto demanded in a strong voice, “Well, what is it?”

Naruto’s back finally hit the wall on the opposite side of the street, and Kakashi stopped less than two steps from him.

“I came to tell you,” he said in a serious tone, leaning towards him to bring their faces closer as Naruto’s eyes widened. “To stop brooding over Sasuke.” Wide blue eyes narrowed, darkening with anger as Naruto clenched his jaw, but Kakashi continued determinedly, “It’s not doing you any good, and will only serve to hurt you in the long run, especially at the hearing tonight.”

Naruto glowered at him, trying to continue his defiant stare down, but the longer he tried to meet Kakashi’s intense look, the more he wanted to retreat from it. After just a few moments, Naruto broke contact, turning his head to the side. “Is that all?”

Kakashi straightened again, giving the teen his personal space back. With a heavy sigh he answered, “For now.”

“Good, then I’ll be going.”

Kakashi stepped back as Naruto pushed himself from the wall, giving the boy room to leave. Not giving any pretense of escaping casually, Naruto ran full out down the street, quickly disappearing around a corner.

“Take my advice, Naruto,” he spoke softly once the boy had gone. “For both our sakes.” Then his hands formed familiar seals, and the jounin disappeared from the street in a puff of smoke.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*

The classroom door slid open. A chalkboard eraser dropped neatly onto a messy bed of golden locks before falling to the floor, hitting its side, and dropping back to the eraser side in a small cloud of chalk dust. Immediately a small group of boys erupted with cheers and laughter.

The loudest of the cheerers—a boy with short, light brown hair and a bandage above his eyebrow—ran excitedly up to the victim of his eraser attack. “Haha, I got you good today, Naruto-sensei! You didn’t even see it comin’, did ya?!”

“Hachiro…” Naruto said through clenched teeth. He picked up the dusty ‘weapon’, fingers gripping a little too tightly, and gave a disapproving face to the boy.

A wide grin immediately fell from the youngster’s bright face, “Naruto-sensei? Aw, come on, you’re not mad are you, Naruto-sensei? Just ’cuz you said I’d never get you with that one again?!”

Ignoring the questions, Naruto walked to the front of the class, set the eraser on his desk, and turned to face his murmuring seven- and eight-year-old students.

“Everyone,” he called to get their attention. A few students glanced at him and waved. Some greeted, “Good morning, Naruto-sensei.” A total of five straightened in their seats, giving him their attention. Everyone else continued talking amongst themselves or horsing around as they had been before their blond sensei had entered the classroom.

Hachiro remained fixed in his spot by the door, watching his sensei with apprehension. Something seemed off with him today. He was normally really good natured—even encouraging!—about the pranks the boy pulled.

“Everyone in your seats and quiet down. Enough messing around, it’s time to get to work!” Naruto ordered his students, raising his voice in a stern tone.

The room quieted and slowly students navigated to their proper seats, including Hachiro, who sat beside a girl with wheat blonde hair and sky blue eyes in the second row from the front.

“Mou, what’s Naruto-sensei’s problem? He’s the one who’s almost two hours late,” a student one desk over mumbled behind his hand to his desk mate. The other boy shrugged.

“He’s even later than usual,” a boy behind them whispered.

Naruto caught the mumbled complaints, fisted his hands at his sides, and shouted, “Okay, everyone, line up!”

A black haired girl in the front row frowned. “What for, Naruto-sensei?”

“Pop quiz,” Naruto replied. “Everyone’s going to show me the seals used to perform the Bunshin no Jutsu. We’ve been working on this all week, you should all know it. No arguments. Anyone that doesn’t get them right will write me a scroll on why it’s important to pay attention and listen to your sensei and leader—in class and on missions.”

Groans filled the classroom as the students lined up to show their seals. One by one, Naruto checked their seals, sending those that passed back to their seats in relief, and handing a thick, blank scroll to those that didn’t. As he was handing the second to last scowling boy a scroll, the door to his classroom slid open.

“Now why does this look familiar to me,” the female voice asked in amusement. She looked at the sullen faces of the students and asked, “What did they do, Naruto? I’ve never seen your students look so glum!”

One daring boy, in the back of the class, piped up, “Naruto-sensei’s in a bad mood today. He came in two hours late and gave us a pop quiz and assigned us scrolls!”

“Aki, do you need a second scroll?” Naruto asked the boy warningly.

He immediately paled, “N-no, sensei. Sorry.” He quickly returned to his writing.

“Next,” Naruto ordered the next student, Hachiro, who nervously showed his hand seals. Naruto sighed, “You got the ram okay, but you need to work on moving more fluidly to the snake and tiger. Your finger positions on the snake seal were fumbled, and that caused the tiger to be formed wrong as well. Take your scroll, and make sure you work on your seals when you’re done.” He raised his voice to the rest of the class, “In fact, all of you make sure you work on your seals. We’re doing this again tomorrow and I expect everyone to pass next time!”

A blue haired girl in the front row raised her hand. “Yes, Akemi, what is it?” the blond asked the girl.

“What about the people that got it right today?”

Naruto crossed his arms, and then scratched his nose in thought. “The ones that passed today… tomorrow you can try to show me a real Bunshin no Jutsu.”

Gasps and murmurs were heard from the students, and the girl’s black haired deskmate, the one that had previously asked why they had to line up in the first place, complained, “But we’ve never even done it before! It’s not fair for you to test us on it already!”

“Rei,” Naruto addressed her, trying to keep frustration out of his tone, “You won’t be graded on it. I just want you to try, okay? Now, if you don’t have a scroll to be working on, I want you guys to read the scroll on performing the Bunshin no Jutsu. Quietly.” He gave a meaningful look to his students as he stressed this final instruction.

Sakura watched the entire exchange with a raised brow, not missing the way Naruto was barely holding onto his patience.

Turning to his pink haired visitor, the blond asked, “Did you need something, Sakura-chan?”

Sakura blushed a little at the honorific. “Naruto…” she started, reprimandingly.

Finally an expression similar to what she usually expected from him—a sheepish grin—broke across his serious face, and he held up his hands in apology. “Sorry, sorry, Sakura-sensei.”

“Actually, I did want to talk to you.” She turned to his quiet students, most of whom were paying more attention to their sensei’s conversation than their scrolls. “Would you excuse Naruto-sensei for a bit? He can trust you to behave by yourselves for a few minutes, ne?”

Naruto cocked a questioning brow at her, but followed her out of the classroom, closing the door behind them. The two former teammates immediately heard a rush of muffled feet, and Sakura giggled slightly as she pulled Naruto further down the hallway, away from the students’ prying ears.

“Pop quiz hand seals? Scroll assignments as punishment? Resorting to Iruka-sensei’s tactics, Naruto? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re finally acting like a real teacher, either that or teaching in that room this whole time has affected you with nostalgia, but I have a feeling that has nothing to do with it.”

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly, “That was a bit unlike me. I’m just not myself today, I guess.”

Sakura nodded, “I suppose that’s to be expected. I think I was a little harsher than usual with Ino this morning when we were training, too. I just barely missed punching her and smashed the rock behind her head instead. She just wouldn’t shut up about her new mission with Shikamaru!”

Naruto chuckled a little. “Maybe she did it on purpose. Did hurting the rock make you feel better, Sakura-chan?” he asked, the old honorific again finding its way to the end of his friend’s name.

She blushed a little, but thought seriously about the question. “I guess it did.”

Naruto felt a bit of envy. He wished he’d been able to properly vent that morning.

Once they were an acceptable distance away from the classroom, Naruto asked, “Okay, Sakura, what’s this about? Shouldn’t you be teaching your own class?”

Sakura waved off the importance of the question, “They’re fine. I have them reading medical theory scrolls. Did you get a message from Tsunade-shishou today?”

Naruto’s mind immediately pictured the scene from earlier that morning, and he grew agitated again at the memory of Kakashi’s warning to him. “Yeah,” he answered his friend. “You too?”

Sakura nodded. “I guess I knew it was coming up, but I didn’t think they’d do it today, of all days.”

“Yeah well, those village elders really have a knack for timing,” the blond replied bitterly. “They probably decided to do it today, hoping we’d do something stupid so they don’t even have to bother with us.”

“We can do it, though, Naruto. We’re ready, and they have to see that. We’ve more than proven ourselves this past year.”

“We never had anything to prove in the first place, Sakura-chan,”

She looked away when she replied, “In their eyes we did.” Green eyes met blue again as she said, “Look, we can’t change what happened, or what we did, or what the elders thought of it. Let’s just do our best tonight and get things back on track.”

He took a deep breath and sighed it out, looking at the floor. Then he looked back up at her and put a familiar smile on his face, a determined gleam in his eyes. “You’re right. We’ll prove them wrong tonight, for sure!”

She mimicked his bright smile and nodded determinedly. “What time is your hearing?”

“Eight, yours?”

“Mine said eight, as well. Do you think they’re seeing us together?”

Naruto shrugged. “They most likely want to see us separately, but don’t know how long each hearing will take. Whichever one of us goes last will probably end up waiting there awhile for their turn,” Naruto answered as they walked back to his classroom.

“Want to have dinner first? My treat,” Sakura offered.

Naruto’s grin spread to show his teeth, “Ichiraku’s??”

Sakura rolled her eyes, but grinned as well, “Of course.”

“I’m there!”

“I’ll meet you there at six then?”

“Sure thing, Sakura,” he answered, and she waved goodbye as he entered his classroom.

Whistles erupted from the boys in the class as the girls grinned and blushed, whispering to each other.

“What’s up with you guys?” Naruto questioned his class, eyebrow cocking twitchingly.

“Naruto-sensei’s got a da~ate with Sakura-sensei,” Hachiro replied loudly.

“Are you gonna kiss her, sensei?” the blonde girl beside him asked a little worriedly.

“Wow, Naruto-sensei sure is lucky,” Naruto heard one of the boys in back comment to his friend, who wholeheartedly agreed with him and started talking amongst each other about how ‘hot’ the pink haired kunoichi was.

“Now, hold on a minute, who said anything about a date?” The murmuring and gossiping grew so loud, none of the students even heard Naruto the first time.

Deciding a bit of show would get their attention better, his hands flew through seals, he muttered, “Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,” and suddenly there were five Narutos standing at the front of the class. “Hey!” they all called in unison.

Still the chatter about his personal life continued, so the four shadow clones plus one real Naruto put their fingers to their mouths and blew an ear-splitting whistle. That shut the kids right up, mouths either shutting immediately or hanging open soundlessly as almost everyone’s hands went to cover their ears. When the whistle ended, the room was left in complete, stunned silence.

“That’s better. Now who said anything about a date?” Naruto asked his students.

“But Sakura-sensei said she’d take you to dinner, didn’t she? That’s a date!” Hachiro exclaimed to his sensei.

The blonde girl beside him crossed her arms and muttered under her breath, “If it’s a real date, Naruto-sensei should be the one to pay.”

Naruto almost guffawed at the enthusiasm in Hachiro’s voice. It was very similar to the reaction he would’ve had just a couple years before. However, time changes things. “Heheh, it’s just dinner with Sakura-sensei, Hachiro. Just dinner with a friend.”

Hachiro looked at him suspiciously, “Really?”

“Really.”

“Are you sure, Naruto-sensei?” the wheat-haired girl asked skeptically.

“Yes, Aiko, now can we please move on? Or would you guys prefer writing more scrolls to training outside?”

Cries of protest immediately erupted and Naruto grinned as he lined his students up to go outside.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*

A few hours later, Hachiro and Aiko left the Academy with their fellow students, walking together through the streets of Konoha.

“Yo!” a voice called from behind, and the two turned around to see a shaggy brown haired boy with red triangles on his cheeks running to catch up with them, his black puppy trotting alongside.

Aiko and Hachiro smiled and waved at their friend. “Yo, Ryouken!” Hachiro called.

“Hey, guys,” Ryouken greeted when he caught up. “So how late was Naruto-sensei today?”

“About two hours,” Hachiro answered.

Ryouken whistled, “That’s like the latest he’s ever been, isn’t it?”

“There was that one time he was an hour and a half late, and he said he had to help a lady catch a pig, remember?” Aiko giggled.

“Yeah, and he was really sweaty and dirty. And he stunk, too, so we believed him!”

The three friends clutched their bellies as they laughed. Then Ryouken asked, “So what was his excuse today?”

The other two grew quiet, a solemn look coming to their faces. “Today was different,” said Hachiro.

The dog boy paused to look at them, then laughed, “Don’t act so serious! What happened?”

Aiko answered, “I think Naruto-sensei was… upset about something today.”

“Yeah,” Hachiro agreed, “He even went off on me for my eraser in the door trick!”

Ryouken rolled his eyes, “You did that again? I thought you said you were gonna stop using that one since Naruto-sensei hasn’t fallen for it since the first day.”

“Well, I got him today.”

“Yeah, and then we got quizzed on our seals for Bunshin no Jutsu, and everyone that failed had to write a scroll,” Aiko remarked dryly.

“That wasn’t my fault! If the others hadn’t started complaining about Naruto-sensei being late—”

“Anyway,” Ryouken interrupted, “How’d you do on the seals?”

“I passed of course, but Hachiro has to work on his.”

Hachiro blushed at this, ruffling the back of his hair with his hand.

“Oh well, you’ll get it next time, right?” Ryouken said with a grin, clapping the other boy on the back. “What’re you guys doing today?”

“Aiko-chan’s gonna help me with my seals. Right, Aiko-chan?” Hachiro nudged the girl with his elbow.

She sighed dramatically. “Okay, okay, if you help me with my shuriken practice.”

“Yatta!” The light haired boy exclaimed, jumping in the air. “And after that, we can go to Ichiraku’s for ramen,” Hachiro added with a sly look.

Aiko blushed. “B-but—”

Ryouken stopped Aiko and examined her face closely. “What’s the matter? Got a crush on Teuchi-san or somethin’?”

“More like a crush on his best customer!” Hachiro laughed.

With a twitching eyebrow and a throbbing vein in her forehead, Aiko punched him, leaving half his face slightly swollen for the next couple hours. Still, he lisped out, “Naruto-sensei’s having a date with Sakura-sensei tonight!”

“What?!!” Ryouken exclaimed. “Sakura-sensei… and Naruto-sensei?!! How did that happen?!”

Hachiro shrugged, “Dunno. Sakura-sensei took Naruto-sensei out of the room for a few minutes this morning, and when they came back Sakura-sensei asked him to meet her at Ichiraku’s.”

“It’s not a date,” Aiko declared firmly. “Naruto-sensei said so.”

Hachiro rolled his eyes at his friend, “That’s just because he doesn’t want us to know about it! C’mon, Aiko-chan, don’t you want to go and see for yourself?” He smirked at her as he saw her resistance crumbling, and grinned when she finally agreed.

“Fine, but you’re paying for my ramen.”

Ryouken chuckled at his friends and his puppy gave a gleeful yip. Then, realizing they were nearing his home, he turned to say goodbye to his friends. “I’ll see ya later! Kiba-ojisan said he’d help me with training Shiroi-chan today!” The puppy gave another happy bark at her name and ran ahead of her master.

“See you tomorrow, Ryouken-kun!” Aiko called after him before she and Hachiro headed off for their own training.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*

The dinner rush was just starting when Sakura found Naruto already waiting for her in front of the well known ramen stand.

“Been waiting long?” she asked the blond.

“Nah, but hurry up, I’m starving!”

She giggled, “Well, you seem to be in a better mood than you were this morning!”

“Sakura,” he said, eyes widening, tone both serious and shocked as he was about to impart invaluable knowledge that he couldn’t believe she wasn’t privy to. “It’s ramen!”

She rolled her eyes, though her smile betrayed her as she conked him lightly on the head with her fist, “Okay, you big blond idiot, let’s go eat then.”

They took their seats at one end of the counter, ordered, and began to eat silently. Though, indeed, the company and food was welcome, both were again growing sullen as they were left alone with their thoughts in the silence only broken by the slurping of noodles, and the sounds of ramen being ordered and made for other customers.

Halfway through their bowls, Sakura was the first to break the silence. “I can’t believe it’s been a year already.” Naruto paused after slurping up a noodle, but said nothing, so Sakura continued. “I keep thinking I’ll wake up and it will all have been just a horrible nightmare.” She glanced over at him, seeing his sudden hunched posture and darkening expression, but ventured on. “Naruto… have you thought about what to say to them?”

He stared into his bowl and shrugged, “Just answer their questions. I can only tell the truth and do my best to make them believe me this time. We’ve done everything they’ve asked, obeyed their stupid probation rules, and we’re even teaching like Tsunade-no-baachan told us to. But I’m gonna go crazy if this lasts much longer, Sakura. They just have to reinstate us tonight!”

“Do you really think they wanted to rile us up by doing this today?”

Naruto clenched his jaw, “Of course, what better way to test us than planning this on his birthday? After all—”

Before he could finish his sentence, voices from outside the stand caught their attention; very familiar voices.

“But we just wanted to see if he was gonna kiss her!” a very loud voice protested, as a familiar light brown haired boy and a wheat blonde haired girl, who was blushing in obvious embarrassment, were dragged into the restaurant. By an equally familiar, if not more so, silver haired Jounin.

“It appears I have captured some spies,” the Copy Ninja stated casually, holding the two up by the scruff of their collars as if they were no more than month-old kittens.

“Hachiro! Aiko! What were you two doing?” Naruto questioned sternly as Kakashi set them down in front of him.

“I'm really sorry, Naruto-sensei!” Aiko pleaded. “It was Hachiro’s idea in the first place! I only agreed to get ramen with him, but he wanted to spy on you and Sakura-sensei!”

“Don’t lie, Aiko-chan! You know you wanted to see if he was really on a date or not, too! Otherwise why would you have said we should hide outside instead of walking straight in?!”

“Hachirooo!” The girl gave a Glare of Death to her partner in crime, blushing an even deeper red.

Naruto sighed and groaned, “I already told you, it’s not a date. Adults can go out to dinner without it being a date, you know. Besides, it’s just Sakura.”

“Thank you very much,” Sakura remarked sarcastically, cracking her knuckles.

He turned an apologetic smile to her, “You know I didn’t mean it like that, Sakura-chan. Ohh, Kakashi-sensei, help me!”

One black eye gave only a slight roll in answer before turning the two eavesdroppers to him, leaning down to their level. “Naruto-sensei and Sakura-sensei used to be on the same team together. It’s okay for teammates to have ramen together every once in awhile, right, and today has special circumstances. It would be nice to give them privacy, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes,” they answered resignedly in unison.

Kakashi’s visible eye closed in a smile, “Now run along before you cause any more trouble.” And with that he pushed them back out to the street, watching them slump away. Then he joined his former students at the counter, though he ordered nothing.

“Isn’t this nostalgic?”

Naruto turned to look at the masked man. “Today is just the day for it, isn’t it? Why is it that I don’t think your showing up right here, right now, is just a coincidence? What do you want, Kakashi-sensei?”

“Have you given any thought to the advice I gave you this morning, Naruto?”

Naruto’s fist clenched around his chopsticks, and they gave a creak at the pressure, warning of an impending snap. He purposely relaxed his grip before that happened. “I’ve thought about it,” he finally answered, voice eerily, unnaturally calm. “But it’s not that easy, and you know it.”

Kakashi gave a sigh and stood up to leave. “I guess there’s no more I can do for it now. The hearing is tonight, I’ll see you two there.”

Sakura, who had been watching the exchange curiously, spoke then, “You’re going to be there, Kakashi-sensei?”

He paused in the doorway to nod. As soon as they blinked he was gone.

Sakura put her hand to her chest and breathed a big sigh of relief. “Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better. If Kakashi-sensei is speaking on our behalf we have a much better chance. I wonder who else will be there,” she mused.

Naruto gave no reply as he seemed to be staring off into the immeasurable depths of his ramen bowl.

Deciding perhaps a change of topic was in order, Sakura commented lightheartedly, “So, you were later than usual this morning. What was your excuse today?”

“I went to Sasuke’s,” he answered simply and quietly, still staring into his bowl.

Having expected a ‘Naruto-style-Kakashi-excuse’, as she’d been becoming accustomed, Sakura suddenly felt a cold wind rush past with the honest answer, wishing she hadn’t brought it up. Then the depression left Naruto’s face, being replaced by a mask of pure cheer as he smiled brightly, his eyes even crinkling in smiley form. “I guess it’s pretty silly. I just thought, maybe he’d actually show up for his birthday, hahaha!” Then the blond finally returned to eating his ramen wholeheartedly.

It was Sakura’s turn to stare into her bowl, though hers was almost finished. She didn’t really feel hungry anymore, anyway. ‘Yeah,’ she thought to herself. ‘I guess that was too much to hope for.’

Sakura stayed until Naruto finished, though neither of them said anything more. Then they went their separate ways with the knowledge they would be seeing each other again very soon, at the Hokage Tower.

*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~*

A short time later, Naruto found himself standing next to Sakura outside Tsunade’s office, the two of them waiting to be called in. Just as Naruto was about to burst with impatience, the door to the office opened.

Two heads, one blond, one pink, snapped their attention to the door, seeing Shizune coming out. She held the door open and, with an ushering motion of her arm, said, “They are ready for you now. They would like to see Sakura first.”

Sakura walked forward and, with a quick glance back, gave a weak smile to Naruto before the doors closed behind her. He tried to smile encouragingly back to her, but doubted he succeeded.

After waiting twenty minutes, alternating from staring at the doors, the floor, and the wall in front of him, Naruto sighed and slid down the wall to sit rather than lean against it. Approximately ten minutes after that, the doors finally opened again, and Naruto stood quickly in attention as Sakura emerged from Tsunade’s office.

“How’d it go?” Naruto asked eagerly, though with a slightly apprehensive tone.

“I’m… not really sure. I did my best and it seems like it went in my favor, but…” she shrugged.

His hopeful expression deteriorated, “So they didn’t give you their decision yet?”

She shook her head. His shoulders drooped. Then the doors opened again, and Shizune called him inside. Sakura tried to give him an encouraging smile, and he knew then that he had definitely failed before if the smile he’d given her had looked anything like hers. He took a deep breath, let it out, and walked through the doors. The sound of them slamming behind him seemed to echo for an eternity in the amount of time it took him to blink.

When he opened his eyes again, he was met with a rather unexpected sight. Centered on the other side of the room, as usual, was Tsunade’s desk. Beside it, however, on either side, were additional desks lined up side by side in a semicircle. Behind them sat, of course, Tsunade and the old man and woman; the elders of the village council. Also there, however, were Kakashi, Yamato, and an old man he’d never met before, but knew from having heard his description from Sakura in the past. Danzou, his former temporary teammate Sai’s superior.

Naruto’s brow furrowed. ‘Why’s he here? And why are Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-taichou sitting with my interrogators?’

Shizune offered Naruto a seat, centered in the room in front of the line of desks. He sat and faced them determinedly.

“Naruto,” Tsunade greeted with a slight nod of her head.

“Tsunade-sama,” he returned somberly. Now was not the time for childish names.

Again he scanned the faces of the ‘council’, unsure if he should greet them all by name or what; he didn’t even know the old man and woman’s names and had never met Danzou, after all. Before he could worry much longer on it, though, the old woman to Tsunade’s immediate right spoke.

“Very well, let us commence the probationary hearing for reinstatement of active shinobi status to one, Uzumaki Naruto, former Chuunin of Konohagakure no Sato.”

TBC
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A/N2: And so it starts… my first posted canon multichap fic… Reading my writing from three years ago is a little trippy, like a time warp… I made several revisions, but it is still sorta… IDK how to explain it. LOL The biggest thing: OMG OCs! I sort of cringe at using them now, but I decided they are still needed in this instance, so I kept them. I have a bit more thoughts and notes on this story, but I will save those for my lj. If anyone’s interested, you can find them here: http://ladygizarme.livejournal.com/9369.html

Thanks for reading, and please tell me your thoughts in a review.

&hearts

~ lg