Someone to call a family + You're not alone anymore

The Bell Test

(Warning: abuse in this chapter)

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"Naruto where do you think you're going? Do you think I'm just going to let you waltz right into your room? Do you think you can just pretend nothing happened today? You think I would just forget that you shoved me? No Naruto, you're wrong, very wrong." Sasuke growled, causing Naruto to stop on the first step. Naruto had hoped to just head into his room and go to sleep. He had been hoping Sasuke would forget everything, but alas, life wasn't that easy, especially if your name happened to be Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto looked down at the ground, his bangs covering his eyes, wanting to hide his face from Sasuke.

"Get over here Naruto." Sasuke ordered with venom in his voice. Naruto's hand gripped the railing tighter as his whole body began to shake. He knew it hadn't been a good idea to push Sasuke away earlier, and now he was going to pay for it.

With a small and almost silent sigh (If Sasuke heard him sigh, he'd be even more pissed then he already was, and Naruto did not want that), Naruto stepped off the step he was on and walked over to Sasuke as slowly as he could, trying to stall his punishment. He stopped when he was directly in front of the older boy, keeping his head downcast, avoiding Sasuke's coal-colored eyes. It was obvious that Sasuke was enraged by this, because he took Naruto by his hair and forced him to look into his eyes angry onyx eyes, their faces only inches apart.

"Naruto, look at me when I'm talking to you!" He yelled out in annoyance. He hated when Naruto didn't listen to him. Naruto whimpered slightly as the hold on his hair tightened. He reached up and touched Sasuke's hand with his own. It was a silent plead to let go, but it went unheard by the youngest Uchiha.

"No, I'm not letting you go until you learn your lesson!" Sasuke shouted, and pushed Naruto up against the railing, hard, causing it to creak under the pressure of a body hitting it.

"Sasuke-san," Naruto paused, he missed calling him Sasuke-chan...It has been so long since he was allowed to call him that. So long but it felt like only yesterday that they were playing in the backyard together.

"I'm sorry... Just let me go! I'm sorry okay? I won't do it again! I won't shove you Sasuke, I promise! I don't even know what came over me. Just let me go, please?" Naruto pleaded. He hated when Sasuke was angry at him, which happened more often than it didn't.

"Oh, so you're sorry? Let's see how sorry you are..." Sasuke said as he leaned in closer to Naruto's face. Naruto's eyes widened, he knew what Sasuke was going to do now. And he wasn't going to push him away this time, because he knew the punishment would be much worse if he did.

Sasuke leaned in, and Naruto felt the older boy's lips upon his own. It was gentle at first, but then turned into a harsh bite. Naruto gasped and pulled back slightly, blood leaked out of the bite wound. Sasuke pulled him closer, placing his lips upon Naruto's again. He licked the blood on Naruto's bottom lip until the small wound stopped bleeding. He nibbled on the bottom lip, trying to get Naruto to open his mouth, but the blonde boy kept his mouth shut, too young to even know what was going on. Sasuke pulled back, irritated.

"Damn it Naruto." He hissed as he pulled his hand back and slapped Naruto, hard, causing the boy to fall to the floor.

"Sasuke-san, what did I do?" Naruto asked as he covered his face. Sasuke began to kick him. He kicked his leg, and Naruto knew that was going to bruise. He sent a kick to his face, but luckily Naruto's hands was covering his face..

"You're such an annoyance! I have no clue why I even let you stay here!" Sasuke shouted as he kicked Naruto hard in the stomach. Naruto removed his hands from his face, and clenched his stomach. He began cough up a little blood. Sasuke stopped, eyes widening a little at the sight of blood coming out of Naruto's mouth.

"Tch, go clean yourself up moron." Sasuke said as he shook his head at the sight of the younger boy bleeding. He turned heel and walked up the stairs. Seconds later, Naruto heard Sasuke's door slam shut.

Oh yeah, Sasuke was mad.

...Really mad.

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"Wha...what do you mean he doesn't want to leave? He's being abused! Why wouldn't he want to leave? Why does he even let Sasuke do that to him? He's stronger than that. He could fight Sasuke off if he really wanted to." Iruka asked, shocked.

"It's complicated Iruka. Naruto really loves Sasuke, more than anything else. And he would never leave him, no matter what happened. Apparently, his..." Kakashi paused, changing his wording to fit the situation better. "...their mother had a lot to do with it. She taught Naruto never to leave the one's you love, and to protect them with everything you've got. No matter what." Kakashi said sadly. He knew all too well what it was like to lose the ones you love.

"So it's all her fault!" Iruka accused.

"No, Mikoto was a remarkable woman, and those two loved her very much, especially Naruto. She taught Naruto how to be loved and love in return. You shouldn't blame her Iruka-sensei. She didn't know that this was going to be the outcome. She didn't know that Itachi was going to kill everyone. And she would never have thought that Sasuke would become abusive towards Naruto." Kakashi said, defending the Uchiha mother. He had met Mikoto a few times before, and she was a very kind woman. He could see why the boys loved her so much.

"Yes...I suppose you're right. But isn't there something, anythingwe can do?" Iruka asked. He loved Naruto like a son, and he wanted to help him in any way possible.

"I'm afraid not Iruka. All you can do is to continue to care for him, because he needs love more then anything else right now." Kakashi responded.

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I can't believe he actually kissed me like that. I don't know why he would want to kiss me like that. He hates me doesn't he? So it doesn't make sense at all. But I guess, it was...kind of nice. But he hurt me afterward, and now my stomach hurts a lot. I hope I'll be okay for the survival training tomorrow.

~Naruto

Naruto sighed as he hid his journal away in the normal hiding spot. He took the necklace out and put it around his neck, hiding it under his pajamas. He'd wear it tomorrow for good luck, because he needed luck. If he was sent back to the Academy, he'd never hear the end of it.

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Kakashi laid a bouquet of flowers gently on a grave. The engraved name read 'Uchiha Obito'.

"I have a team now Obito, and I think they'll be the first one's I'll actually pass. One of them is your little cousin Sasuke. He's a bit cruel towards Naruto because of Itachi. The other is a girl, named Haruno Sakura. She's a lot like Rin in some ways. And the last one is Uzumaki Naruto. He's the kid who has the Kyuubi sealed inside of him. He's so much like you Obito. If you could only see."

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"Naruto, wake up! You better not make us late." A voice shouted. A harsh shove pulled Naruto from his comfortable sleep. He sat up and winced at the pain in his stomach. Why did it still hurt so much? Usually, the pain would be dulled down the next day.

'Hmm, Sasuke was probably too rough last night. Naruto thought.

"I'm up Sasuke! What time is it?" Naruto asked, rubbing his tired eyes.

"4:30, hurry up and get dressed." Sasuke ordered as he left the room.

Naruto sighed. It was the same thing every time Sasuke hurt him. He would come in the next day and act normal (well, normal for Sasuke standards). He would act as if he didn't hit Naruto. But today was different; Sasuke mentioned nothing about the kiss. And Naruto was slightly relieved about that.

About 15 minutes later, two boys could be seen leaving their house, and going to meet their sensei. Sakura, their third teammate was already there, looking as tired as Naruto did.

"Good morning." Sakura greeted lazily, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

"Good morning Sakura-chan." Naruto replied, tired. Sasuke didn't even bother with any sort of greeting.

Team seven waited a few minutes. 5 AM came and went, and Kakashi-sensei was no where to be found. So they waited some more, 6AM, 7AM, 8AM, and at 9 AM Kakashi finally showed up.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura and Naruto shouted, pointing at the older man.

"Ah, sorry, sorry! A black cat crossed my path so..." Kakashi began, but team seven didn't believe him.

"LIAR!" Naruto and Sakura said together. Sasuke just shook his head at their stupidity, and at their sensei's lack of...hmm, what was he lacking exactly? Sasuke couldn't quite put his finger on it. But this man was certainly weird.

"Well, let's move on." Kakashi said. He walked over to a tree stump, and set an alarm on the clock that was sitting there. "It's set for twelve o'clock." Kakashi told them as he took out two small silver bells from his pocket; they dangled in his hands and made noise.

"The task is for you to get one of these bells from me. And whoever doesn't, will get no lunch!" Kakashi said.

Sakura and Naruto groaned at this.

'So that's why he told us not to eat breakfast.' Sasuke thought to himself.

"But Kakashi-sensei, there are only two bells, and there are three of us here." Sakura said, questionable of her sensei's teaching aspects. This man was really weird. Maybe he wasn't really a jounin. Maybe he was just pretending to. But wasn't that a serious offense?

"Yes, whoever doesn't get the remaining bell, will be sent back to the academy. But we'll figure that out soon enough, won't we? Let's see if you three can even make it until noon." Kakashi stated with a smile. Well, what they thought was a smile, because Kakashi had a mask on. But they could hear the smirk in his voice.

Naruto gasped. He just had to get one of those bells! He couldn't go back to the Academy.

He looked over to Sakura.

'If Sasuke and I get the bells, then Sakura-chan will have to go back...I don't know if I can do that to her...but...I can't disappoint Sasuke either. Why would he only bring two? We're a team and we're supposed to work together...so why would he want to send only one of us back?' Naruto pondered.

"Okay, start!"

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Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto split up in three separate ways, quickly dashing away from the teacher. They hid within the forest, hoping to catch him in surprise when they reappeared. But to their shock, he wasn't even searching for them. In fact, he was reading some sort of orange book titled 'Icha Icha Paradise'.

Seeing that he was preoccupied, Sasuke took the opportunity to jump out and attack him. He aimed a kick at his new sensei, but Kakashi grabbed his foot and flipped him onto the ground, straddling his back.

'Shit! He's better than I thought. He really is a jounin.' Sasuke thought as he tried his hardest to get out of his sensei's grasp.

"Sakura-chan, I'm going to help Sasuke-san. Wait until after I get to where Kakashi-sensei is, and then come out. I'll distract him and you can come up behind in a sneak attack." Naruto whispered.

"Naruto are you crazy? We can't take him on! We can't risk that! If Sasuke-kun couldn't do it, what makes you think we can?" Sakura responded to the younger ninja.

"What else can we do? You want to help Sasuke-san don't you? If we work together, maybe we can help him!" Naruto said, and came out of his hiding spot to 'save' his teammate.

"Sasuke-san? He wasn't calling him that yesterday. I wonder what happened.' Sakura thought to herself.

'Oh? What's this? Could it be they know the secret behind this? Hmm, maybe I will pass them afterall. Maybe they aren't as dumb as they look.' Kakashi thought as Naruto approached him, and Sakura came out from hiding.

"If you want to attack me, you'll have to let Sasuke-san go!" Naruto yelled out as he charged at Kakashi, who in turn, performed a seal.

"WHAT! He's going to use ninjutsu on Naruto! No! I can't let him do that." Sakura yelled out as she charged for Kakashi.

"Damn it Usuratonkachi! Turn around! You're going to get hurt...And I'm not going to take care of you!" Sasuke shouted. The last thing he needed was for Naruto to be injured.

"Konohagakure Hiden: Taijutsu no Ôgi: Sennen Goroshi (Hidden Leaf Ancient Taijutsu supreme technique: One thousand years of pain)!" Kakashi yelled out, poking Naruto hard in the ass, causing the boy to go flying, screaming in slight pain and a large dose of embarrassment.

"What? Wait a minute, that's not a jutsu..." Sakura paused in her running, blushing in embarrassment. Was this man really going to be their teacher? What kind of person did that to their student?

Sasuke was speechless, and angry. He didn't like where Kakashi had touched Naruto. But at least he was able to stand up. He stood up quickly and pulled out a kunai, ready to throw it. But Kakashi was the quicker than him, and he grabbed Sasuke, throwing him further away, into the nearby lake, and disappearing with a 'poof'.

"Eh? Where'd he go?" Sakura asked. Naruto shrugged, and Sasuke was just walking up, dripping wet.

"Oi, oi, oi! Look! One of the bells!" Naruto stated, and ran up to it, but just when he was about to pick it up, he was hoisted into the air by a rope.

Kakashi looked at team 7 from his hiding spot. Naruto had fallen for the trap, and was now hanging upside down.

'Is that...a bruise on his stomach?' Kakashi said to himself, trying to catch a better glimpse of Naruto's stomach without making it obvious.

Sakura's looked up at Naruto in confusion. He had a rather large bruise on his stomach. It was in a strange place and couldn't have happened while he was training.

'I'll have to ask him about it later.' She thought to herself.

"If something is too obvious, you shouldn't go after it Naruto." Kakashi said as he literally came out of no where.

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"Iruka. There must be something you wanted to talk to me about. This can't just be about tea." Hokage said as he sipped his green tea. Iruka had called him earlier, stating that he wanted to have tea.

"You're right Hokage-sama. I do want to talk about something. I want to talk about Naruto." Iruka admitted. He swirled his tea and placed it down. He wasn't very thirsty. And he couldn't drink tea while Naruto was getting abused.

"Oh? You talked to Kakashi, didn't you?" Hokage asked. "He did say he was going to talk to you about the situation."

"Yes! Take Naruto away! He's too young to realize that it's wrong!" Iruka said. He was determined to get Naruto away from Sasuke.

"Iruka, there's something you don't realize. Naruto loves Sasuke. He loved the Uchiha's more than anything else. They saved him. What would have happened if he wasn't adopted by them (Hmm, he would have turned out okay?) Sasuke is the last of the Uchiha that Naruto can actually love."

"But-" Iruka began, but the Hokage interrupted him.

"Shall I tell you what happened those two times we tried to take Naruto away from Sasuke?"

Flashback

"WAKE UP!" A 9 year-old Sasuke yelled. He had woken up in the hospital, and found Naruto was in the bed next to him, sleeping peacefully.

'Peacefully...how can you sleep peacefully when our family was murdered...no...Naruto isn't part of my family.' Sasuke thought as he poked Naruto harshly in the stomach.

"Wha...?" Naruto muttered.

"Dobe! You don't even care for my family do you? How can you sleep through it?" Sasuke shouted, shaking Naruto violently, causing the boy to cry.

"Stop crying! STOP IT!" He yelled, irritated. He hated that Naruto was crying. He pulled back his hand and slapped the boy, which only resulted in him crying more.

"Hokage-sama, you can't leave Naruto with Sasuke! Split them up, he's hurting him already. Can you imagine what'll happen if they keep on living together? Sasuke will eventually kill him!" A woman said. She had blonde hair and beautiful deep brown eyes. She looked so young, but some people knew better. She was actually in her late 40's.

"Yes Tsunade-hime, I'm going to talk with Naruto right now." Hokage said as he beckoned Naruto over.

"Naruto, come here please." Hokage said as Naruto got up off the bed slowly. Sasuke glanced at the Hokage quickly before turning his attention to Naruto. He wanted to hear the conversation. However, the Hokage picked up on this, and pulled the curtain over, blocking Sasuke's view.

"Yes Hokage-sama?" Naruto asked. The Hokage was a little surprised at this. The child's eyes weren't puffy from crying, and he showed no signs of what had just happened between him and Sasuke.

"Naruto, you're going to be moving okay? And it's going to be faraway from Sasuke so-" At this, Naruto's eyes widened.

"NO! NO! I don't want to leave Sasuke! He needs me! And I need him, too." Naruto shouted, he pulled the curtain aside, and ran up to said boy, hugging him. Sasuke got angry, and pushed Naruto off, but Naruto kept grabbing onto him. Sasuke, who was emotionally exhausted, gave in.

End Flashback

"That was the first time." The Hokage said. Iruka was still sitting, shaking slightly, and eyes wide looking down at the table. Why in the world would Naruto act like that? Couldn't he see what Sasuke was doing to him? Couldn't he see that Sasuke didn't care about him

"And the second time..." He began.

Flashback

"Naruto! Go answer the door!" Sasuke yelled out and Naruto got up off of the couch he was lounging on to answer the door. When he opened it, the Hokage stood there.

"Hello Naruto."

"What is it?" Naruto asked. He had taken a small non-liking (Not hate, because Naruto doesn't hate anyone) towards this man since he tried to take him away from Sasuke.

"May I come in?" Hokage asked.

"I guess so, but you better make it quick!" Naruto said, and led the Hokage to the couch, once there, the pair sat down.

"Naruto, I've come to you to ask if you'd like to leave. I'll make sure Sasuke doesn't do anything to you if you do. I'll keep you safe, and I'll make sure he doesn't try to find you. You will be living with a man named Hatake Kakashi. He'll take good care of you." Hokage said.

"No! I told you last time Hokage-jisan! I don't want to go! I won't ever leave Sasuke, because I'm all he has. What's going to happen if I leave! He already lost our family! He doesn't need to lose me as well."

End Flashback

'I see now... He really does love Sasuke.' Iruka said, forgetting the fact that the Hokage was there as he assessed Naruto's situation.

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Naruto was tightly tied to a pole, and Sakura and Sasuke stood next to Naruto. Kakashi was standing across from them.

"I sometimes wonder how rookies pass when they do something so stupid." Kakashi began.

"You three don't seem to understand anything at all do you? No...no, I'm wrong. Naruto seems to be the only one who understands." Kakashi finished.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are you talking about?" Sakura asked.

"Why do you think you're put into teams?" Kakashi asked, and when he received no answer, he continued.

"It's because you have to work as a team. Ninja's have to learn to fight and work alone, but also, many ninja's go on missions together, to protect each other. Sasuke, all you cared about was fighting me. To you, Sakura and Naruto were only getting in your way. Sakura, you didn't care about working with Naruto, you only wanted to help Sasuke. If you three are to remain Genin, you have to really think about what teamwork is. I'll give you a lunch break, and then we'll try again. You're only going to have until three o'clock to get these bells now. If you don't get them you will allbe going back to the Academy." Kakashi said as he handed over a bento each to Sasuke and Sakura.

"Oi! What about me!" Naruto asked, squirming. He really wanted to be untied. He was so hungry and wanted to eat too.

"None for you Naruto. And Sasuke, Sakura, don't share." Kakashi said as he disappeared with a poof.

"OI! That's not fair! I'm hungry too!" Naruto whined slightly, eying Sakura and Sasuke's food.

Sakura looked at Naruto, and then down at her food.

'Everything I said about him...I can't believe it. I should have known he was alone. I should have known he's been through so much. But now, I'll help him! I want to make him happy! And...I need to find out what's going on between him and Sasuke...And, I need to find out how he got that bruise on his stomach. It can't be from training.'

Sakura held out her bento for Naruto. Sasuke sighed and held out his as well.

"Here Naruto," Sakura said as she held out he bento. "You need to eat if we're going to get those bells!" Sakura smiled gently, and suddenly, there was a dark cloud and Kakashi appeared.

"YOU!" He yelled out.

"EH!" Sakura and Naruto said together, worried about what was going to happen now.

"Didn't I tell you not to share?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes but...we're...a team! If Naruto can't eat, I won't either! I won't let him starve!" Sakura said as she took a place in front of Naruto. Sasuke tensed up for a moment, but did the same.

"A team eh?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, a team..."

"Okay then, you PASS!" Kakashi said, smiling.