Chapter 33: Shocking news

Hinata looked outside from the window in her room. The last two weeks had been horrible to her. She couldn’t help thinking about what Naruto had said that day he left on a mission. And the more she thought about it, the more she believed things he had said weren’t true. For instance; Naruto had said he didn’t love her anymore during rescuing Ryudo-san. Yet, when Hinata thought about it and what he had said and the things he did, she was sure he still loved her there, even when they went to visit Mitsuki short before the break up.
“Was he lying? But why?”

There was knocking on the door and the girl turned around to it. “Who’s there?” The door opened and Mitsuki appeared. “It’s me. Hanabi and Neji are here too. Can we talk to you?”
Hinata turned to look outside again and nodded. The three entered and Neji closed the door. Hanabi looked around with her Byakugan activated. “Ok, father is in his office,” she whispered. “Hinata, you should really go outside again,” Neji said. “Don’t want to… not until I figured out what is going on.” “Wait what?” Mitsuki asked. “Naruto-kun… I think he lied to me,” Hinata said sadly as she looked at her friend, sister and cousin.

Mitsuki stared a second at her friend and then it hit her. “That’s it!” “What’s it?” Neji asked. “I think I know why Naruto broke up. Hinata, I first have to tell you something.” “So do I,” Hinabi said, sounding guilty. “Wh-what is it?” Hinata asked.
Mitsuki avoided eye contact. “You see, your father threatened me with death if I didn’t spy on you and Naruto and report it to him. That is how he always managed to find you two,” the wolf girl said softly. “And on the day he broke up with you I saw father throwing Mitsuki out of the office and hitting her. I went to see Naruto and told him about it. Also he found out about my wound on my arm and gave me some of your potion. It’s healed now,” Hanabi told.
“Then… Naruto-kun broke up so no-body will get hurt anymore…” Hinata whispered. Mitsuki nodded in agreement.

“And they found out,” Rakuna sighed as she lay down.

They all turned to the wolf. “Wh-what… you knew about it?” Mitsuki asked as she kneeled down in front of her wolf partner. “Yes, but I promised Naruto not to tell anyone. He’s probably trying to find a way to get through the stubborn head of the Hyuga leader. In the meantime you should not tell anyone about this.” The wolf stood up.
They all sighed and nodded. “I can’t believe father…” Hinata whispered sobbing and sat down on her bed. “Hinata, your father must have a reason for all this.” “Father calls Naruto a monster, maybe that is why. But why Naruto-kun is a monster…” Hanabi said.

Mitsuki, Rakuna and Hinata looked at the young Hyuga girl, knowing the reason. Neji on the other hand didn’t know.

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Tenten, Lee and Choji exchanged some faces and looked at the blonde behind them. Although their mission was finished, Naruto’s mood seemed to be down. Ever since they left the Land of Waves he has been like that.
“Naruto, is everything alright?” Choji asked. “Yeah,” Naruto sighed. The three shook their head, knowing he wasn’t alright at all.

Hours later they entered the office after knocking; something uncommon for Naruto to do. “Come in,” Tsunade said from the other side of the door. The group entered the room and Choji closed the door behind him. ‘Naruto?... why is he looking so… depressed? Did something happen?’ The four chu-nin made their report of the mission until there was another knock on the door. Again Tsunade let the person enter and it was Sakura that peered inside, not looking happy as well. “Ano… Tsunade-shisou? Could I talk to you in privet?”

Naruto turned around, “We were done anyway.” Sakura came inside, looking at the floor. “Naruto… I think you should stay too.” “Hm?” Naruto looked at Sakura, not understanding what was going on but stopped and leaned against the wall instead. The others left, except for Shizune who was allowed to stay as well from Sakura.

“What is it Sakura?” Tsunade asked when she was sure the others were gone. Something serious was troubling her student and she really wondered what it was. “I…,” Sakura started, but needed time to find her words.

“I met Sasuke in that town…,” she said in a whisper. Naruto immediately pushed himself away from the wall and looked at Sakura with a stunned face, waiting for her to go on. “You couldn’t take him back…” Tsunade asked carefully. Sakura shook her head once. “N-no, he… I tried to, but…” “But what, Sakura?” Naruto asked a bit more like himself again. The pink haired kunoichi burst into tears. “I don’t know what came over me… I was… I was too surprised to see him there when he suddenly…” Naruto kept on staring at Sakura, who was trying very hard to find her words. “He… he took advance of me,” she hiccupped. ‘He took advance of her…? Wait what?!’

“Sakura, don’t tell me he…?” Naruto started, being not dense for a moment, staring at his teammate with confusing. Sakura only nodded. ‘N-no way…’ “O my god, Sakura, are you serious?” Tsunade asked not believing what she was hearing. “Y-yes,” Sakura said between her sobs, “I was too afraid to tell Ino and when I came back. A few days ago I started to feel sick… th-then it struck me what could be the cause…s-so I bought a t-test…” Naruto couldn’t believe his ears and saw Sakura going through her knees.

Tsunade rushed over to her. As if she wanted prove, Tsunade examined Sakura, but her already stunned face became only more surprised. Naruto turned his face away from the scene. ‘The bastard…’

“Sakura, now I know this is a hard question, but I will still ask it. Do you want me to take it away?” Tsunade asked in a hoarse voice. Naruto looked over to Sakura with an emphasized look on his face, waiting for a respond as well. In the end Sakura slowly shook her head. “N-no, I cannot do that. That’s killing a ch-child.” Tsunade looked at her and eventually nodded, then she looked over to Naruto. “Naruto, could you take her home?” Naruto nodded and walked over to Sakura. Because she couldn’t stand on her feet anymore, she was shacking too much for that, Naruto carried her on his back.

“I’m sorry, Naruto,” Sakura whispered when out of the office. “Don’t be, it’s not your fault.” “What if Hinata sees us like this?” Only hearing Hinata’s name made him want to run to her again, but he kept himself from doing so as he walked out the Hokage building. “Doesn’t matter, we broke up,” Naruto ended up in saying. “Wh-what?” Sakura said surprised, “Why?” “That doesn’t matter.” “Since when?” “Just before I went on that mission I came back from today. But enough about me; have you told your parents yet?”
Sakura remained quiet for a while as Naruto kept on walking. “N-no, I couldn’t bring myself to it. I’m afraid they might be mad at me.” “There’s no reason for them to be mad at you, Sakura. You couldn’t help it, you got that? Tell them, it will be worse if you don’t entrust them with something like this. They will find out eventually.” “You’re right, but…” “Sakura,” Naruto said looking over his shoulder with a serious face, “Tell them.” Sakura stared at Naruto’s face. “Since when did you grow up?” she asked him.

Naruto turned back to see where he was walking not saying a word. “Would you… please stay?” “Hm? Why?” “You said I have to tell my parents… then I think I better tell them now… please Naruto? Just be there as… emotional support.” Surprised Naruto looked over his shoulder to her. “Emotional support...?”
Sakura looked away as she pinched a little in his jacket. “Naruto… you’re… like a brother to me.” “A brother that is like a punch bag. Every time Sai said something wrong you punished me as well, while I didn’t do a thing at all,” the blonde mumbled as he turned around a corner. “Naruto,” Sakura said on a dangerous tone which made Naruto chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’m just teasing you. Thanks Sakura,” he smiled to her. Sakura smiled back.
“By the way speaking of Sai…” she suddenly started. “Yeah, his mission takes quite long. We haven’t seen him for months. He wasn’t even on my birthday. I wonder how long that ANBU mission of his is going to take,” Naruto sighed. “You miss him?” Sakura asked surprised. “More like he being punched by you is what I’m missing,” the blonde laughed while Sakura sweat dropped. “Well we’re here sis,” Naruto grinned and received a hit. “You don’t have to call me sister all of a sudden. “Hehe,” he let out while rubbing his head.

They entered the house and Sakura called to her parents she was home. “Sakura-chan, can you help… oh you brought someone,” Sakura’s mother said. “Konnichi wa,” Naruto said with a smile. “Ano… o-kaa-san, is o-to-san home as well?”

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For the thousands time that day there was knocking on the door of the Hokage office. Tsunade started to get annoyed by it, she wanted to do nothing for just one hour. One hour! Was that so much to ask. “Come in,” said the annoyed Hokage.

“Tenten?” Tsunade said surprised when the weapon girl entered the office. She was soon followed by Lee and Choji. “Is something wrong?” the Hokage asked. “Well, sort of yes,” Tenten replied while Choji closed the door. “It’s about Naruto-san,” Lee continued. “Naruto said not to talk about it to anyone, but we’re kinda worried,” Tenten said. Around now Tsunade was worried enough to only nod that they had to continue.

“What Naruto-san left out in the report is those people were stolen of their life-force.” “Their life-force,” Tsunade said shocked. “Yes,” Choji went on, “and Naruto said he knew some jutsu to get the life-force back to the girl and all the others that were stolen from their life-force.”

Now Tsunade was seriously shocked, she slammed her hands on the desk stood up and by doing so she knocked the chair over. “Are you SERIOUS?” she asked in an urgent tone. The three chu-nin nodded. “He told us about Kyubi, that it was sealed in him since birth and with its help he could retrieve the life-force, though the man he would rip it of would certainly die,” Tenten went on with the story. “He-he used Kyubi?” Tsunade asked not believing. Again the three chu-nin nodded.
“It was scary in a way, I was still shaking ten minutes after he gave everyone their life-force back,” Lee said while a shiver ran up his spine. “Me too,” Choji admitted. Tenten only nodded.

“He didn’t attack you?” Tsunade wanted to know. “Nu-uh, right after he had given the life-force back to everyone, the red chakra that covered him disappeared and he fainted soon afterwards.”
“How many tails did you kids see?” All four of them looked at the door where the voice came from. “Jiraiya… how long have you been standing there?” Tsunade asked, too worried about Naruto to even scold Jiraiya about not knocking before entering. “Well long enough to tell you this. You were being careless, Tsunade and look what we have now. I just hope we’re still on time to prevent worse. Lee, how many tails?” “… one sir.” “How long?” “For about an hour I think it was.” “So Naruto did manage to keep it under control.”
“Ano, this isn’t the thing we were worried about,” Tenten interrupted the toad sage, “you see, just after Naruto told us he broke up with Hinata, he left and…” “He broke up?” Tsunade asked surprised. “Yeah, we don’t know why though,” Choji said, “but he gave us the feeling he didn’t want to break up with her.” “Especially after the mission was finished and we went back to Konoha. He was depressed the whole time,” Lee said. “Anyway after he left, we followed him to make sure he was alright and when we found him he had some strange chakra circling around him while he seemed to be in pain. He had his arms wrapped around his stomach,” Tenten told. “And when I first felt Kyubi’s chakra I thought it was the same as that chakra, but it slightly different,” Choji ended the story. The other two nodded.

“Oh crap, don’t tell me we ARE too late,” Jiraiya whispered.

“SHIZUNE!” Tsunade shouted. The one called soon ran into the office. “Hai, Tsunade-sama!” “Go get Naruto. IMMEDIATELY!” “H-hai!” Shizune closed the door and was already gone. Tsunade then turned to the three. “Thanks for telling, you can leave now.” Tenten, Lee and Choji nodded and left.

‘Naruto, why didn’t you tell us?’ Tsunade thought as she picked her chair up.

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Shocked Sakura’s parents stared at their daughter. That soon changed when Sakura’s mom turned her head Naruto. “Did you do this?!” “Eh?” Naruto muttered surprised, “n-no… it wasn’t me. I have Hinata-chan… oh wait I broke up with her… ano… IT WASN’T ME!” “Mom, it’s true, it wasn’t Naruto,” Sakura said as she stepped in front of her team-mate. “Then who was it,” her father asked. “It… it was…” then she burst into crying and sank to the floor.
“Tell us, Sakura!” “Honey, don’t yell at her,” Sakura’s mother said. Her husband left with a growl. “I need some fresh air,” he mumbled. “Is… he angry at me?” Sakura asked, trying to rub away the tears. “I think he’s just shocked. But Sakura-chan. How could you be so careless? You’re only sixteen.”
“It wasn’t her fault,” Naruto then said to back his friend up who seemed not to be in the state of telling what happened again today. Sakura’s mother looked at the boy. “What? You were there or something when it happened? If so you should have prevented it from happening,” she replied in, not hiding the disgust towards the boy. “I wasn’t there, Sakura told me what happened. It was Uchiha Sasuke and he forced her. It’s not her fault. Whatever way you look at it, it certainly is not her fault. But if you really need someone to blame, than blame me because I haven’t brought him back to sense yet.”
While Sakura’s mother looked staggered at the boy, Sakura shot up from where she was sitting. “That makes no sense, Naruto!” “Might be so, but everyone always blames the Kyubi container, so why not now too?”

There was a silence. Sakura saw her mother looking at her. “I already know, mom. And unlike most people in this village I believe Naruto is not Kyubi. He is keeping us save from Kyubi, that is how it is and nothing else.” Yet, her mother slowly walked backwards and Naruto let out a sigh. “I am not gonna punish you for the harsh things you said to me. Sakura, I am leaving. I need to clear my mind a little.” The blonde looked at his friend who nodded. “Take care you,” Naruto said and walked to the door. “Naruto.” “Hm?” He stopped but didn’t turn. “Thanks.” “That’s what friends are for.”
He left while Sakura turned to her mother. “Mom… are you angry because of… this?” Her mother stared at her for a moment and then hugged the girl firmly. “No, of course not. But… why did you thank him?” “Naruto said I had to tell you and dad. He said it would get worse if I didn’t entrust you with it.”
Her mother sighed. “Maybe he is okay... we’ll see.” Sakura smiled at her. “He surely is, you’ll see for sure.”

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Naruto was sitting on the training log on the training ground. He sighed as the wind blew through his hair. Looking at the sky he knew it was going to rain soon.
“How can I get to talk to Hiashi? Maybe I should challenge him… but that means there is still a change of loosing Hinata… or she will get a curse mark like Neji has because I am taking her away from the clan. Damn you Hiashi, what is the reason you let me around Hinata-chan when we acted like just friends? And now as boyfriend girlfriend you act like a complete jerk.” The blonde jumped of the log and hit it out of frustration.

“Doesn’t he just hate you because of me?”

‘I thought so at first but the more I think about, the more I doubt it. He might be acting like that is the reason, but why would he allow me to come near to Hinata-chan when we were just friends in his eyes?’

“I see… wait since when do you reason like this?” Kyubi asked surprised.

‘Don’t you get it? It’s like Iruka-sensei said when Mizuki was attacking us. Pranking, fooling. It is to get attention, but right now all that is not important. I need Hinata-chan back. I… I barely slept during those two weeks.’

“And you barely eat.”

‘It’s driving me crazy. I want her back, but she’s out of reach…’

Naruto dropped in the grass. “Why can’t I think of something?”

“NARUTO! Finally I found you.” An out of breath Shizune ran over to the blonde who looked puzzled at the woman. “Is everything alright, Shizune?” “I’m (pant) fine (pant). More importantly, you (pant) need to go (pant) to Tsunade.” Naruto raised an eyebrow. “Why? I left the Hokage office not so long ago. Did something happen?” Shizune shrugged her shoulders.

Sighing Naruto stood up. “Okay, I’ll go.” He slowly made his way back to the Hokage tower, leaving Shizune alone so she could rest a little after all that running through the village searching for him.

When at the place of destination he opened the door without knocking, which he actually wanted to do at first.

“What is it?” Naruto asked after closing the door. He found Jiraiya also there. The white haired man walked to the door and Naruto thought he was leaving, but Jiraiya just blocked the door. This made Naruto get on guard as he looked over to Tsunade, waiting for what was about to come.
“Take off your jacket and shirt,” the blond haired woman ordered. “Huh?” “Take it of, now.” With a suspicious look on his face Naruto did as he was told. He dropped them on the floor. “Come here,” Tsunade ordered. “What are you gonna do?” “Just checking something,” she gave as answer.

Naruto walked over to her and he had to sit down on a stool. She placed her hands on him and then it struck him what she wanted to check. Before he could say a thing, he felt her checking the seal.

‘Crap they know about it as well.’

“That is not something unexpected, is it? They know more about it than we do.”

“You were right, Jiraiya. I have been careless.” “I told you weeks ago.” “Oh, shut it!” “Wh…” Naruto started as he suddenly felt Tsunade trying something he didn’t want at all. An intense painful feeling devoured him. After thirty seconds of screaming in pain he fell of the stool and slapped Tsunade’s hands away. “What do you think you’re doing?!” but that were the only words he could say.

“Kid, she tried to make the seal complete again in order to stop the fusion.”

Naruto was even unable to think as he lay on the floor growling. Tsunade made another try, but Naruto pushed her hands aside. “Get lost,” he said in a hoarse voice. The pain had stopped. “Stop trying to fix the seal, it’s no use.” “Naruto, don’t be a fo…!” Jiraiya said. “Shut it! You can’t fix the seal and you know it!” Naruto shouted as he sat up. He looked at his sensei with an angry face. “What you are now trying is fixing it a bit. Something that has to be done once a year to make sure I don’t fuse with Kyubi.” “Exactly! Now stop…!” “Shut up and listen to me!” Naruto butted in.

Jiraiya and Tsunade where taken aback by that sudden outburst. “I can handle this myself! I don’t need your help and I won’t fuse with Kyuubi! Got that!” “Naruto, you…” Tsunade started. “No! Not Naruto! I won’t fuse!” “You can’t be sure about that! The seal that has been placed, is more then sixteen years old, it’s weakening!” Tsunade shouted at him.
“Like I don’t know! You can’t be sure that that justu you want to use can hold on long enough! It only works a period of time, if we’re lucky a year, if not around a month! It also speeds up weakening the seal if you keep using it! I can’t depend on such a justu! In the end I will have to face the same thing I am facing now, but at that time it will be much stronger than now! ”

Two stunned faces were watching him, as Naruto was shaking from anger. “How do you know?” Jiraiya asked in a normal tone, while Tsunade was still pissed off. “Do you really think I didn’t do research myself when I found out what was going on?!” Naruto still shouted. This made the two great san-nin look more surprised, it even made Tsunade’s pissed off temper fade.

“Still, you can’t be sure Kyubi wouldn’t fuse with you.” Naruto looked at her, his temper fading somewhat. “It won’t. I won’t let that happen. It would make everyone give the right of calling me monster,” he grumbled. Jiraiya looked at him with some proud expression as he nodded understanding.

“How long do you know about it Naruto?” Tsunade asked after sighing. “Short after my birthday. I found out it already started before that date; I already felt dizzy for days, but the first time I felt it was a few weeks after that. I know you’re thinking it’s Kyubi’s doing, but it isn’t. It’s part of how the seal is made.” “How the seal is made?” Tsunade repeated. Naruto nodded, “that’s how the fourth made it. Don’t know why.” From the corner of his eyes his saw Jiraiya’s expression.  
“How did you get information?” Tsunade asked. “I broke in into the Hokage library,” Naruto admitted. “So it was you!” “Yes, well if we’re done now, I am leaving.”

The blonde got his clothes and left the office while he pulled on his shirt.