Smile (A Naruto Fanfic)

Chapter 6

Obito's POV
"Keep searching for him," I said to the ANBU, "he couldn't have gone far." They nodded and disappeared.

I ran a hand through my hair, "where could he have gone? And why would he-" there was a knock and somebody entered, I looked up.

Kakashi was holding Sasuke by the arm and Sasuke was glaring up at him. Kakashi pushed him forward then let go of his arm, "Rin said Naruto was with him before coming back."

Sasuke dusted off his shirt where Kakashi was holding and looked up at me, annoyed.

   I sweatdropped, knowing that Sasuke was doing something before Kakashi brought him here. "T- Thanks."

   Kakashi nodded and left.

   "So, Sasuke-kun, do you know where Naruto is?" I asked.

   He shook his head, "the last time I saw him was yesterday in the afternoon."

   "Oh. What were you two doing?"

   "...Talking," he said after hesitation, "why? What did he do this time?"

   I frowned, he was either pretending not to know, or he really didn't, "he... ran away."

   Sasuke's eyes widened in shock and he froze. He didn't know that.

   I cleared my throat, "well, anyways, do you know what could have made him leave? What were you two talking about?"

   Sasuke didn't move a muscle, he just continued to stare at me in shock.

   "Sasuke-kun?"

   He slowly shook his head and looked down to his feet, "N-no. I don't know why he left. We were just talking about... our.. team." He was clearly lying.

   "Oh, I see. Do you know anywhere he would go to?"

   He shook his head, "but he wouldn't be able to survive alone, he'll eventually come back."

   I chuckled, "we both know that's not true."

   He looked away, "...sorry."

   "Oh no, you shouldn't apologize," I said quickly, "thanks for your help."

   He nodded and left.

   He knows something. I'm sure of it.

     •••

I took a deep breath and opened the door.

In less than a minute, Rin was standing in front of me, she looked over my shoulder, "did you find him?"

I slowly shook my head, even though she already realized it.

She covered her face with her hands and sobbed into them, "it's my fault, I knew something was wrong, I should have asked him about it."

I put a hand on her shoulder, "it's not your fault," I whispered softly, I squeezed her shoulder, "if anything, it's my fault." She removed her hands from her face to look at me, I wiped her tears, "don't worry, I sent some of the best ANBU to look for him." I had sent Team Ro to search for him outside the village and Jounin are searching for him in the village. Besides that, Danzo probably has some of his ANBU searching for him, with all the information he knows. "I will find him. And I will bring him back home."

   She forced a smile and nodded.

     •••

   "Maybe he was kidnapped," Chouza suggested.

   I shook my head, "if he was kidnapped, his room would have been destroyed. He would never let himself be kidnapped so easily." It's been almost a week since Naruto's disappearance, and Danzo had said that we should have a council meeting to discuss it.

   "The kid knows a lot, there's a possibility that somebody strong found out about it and took him to get some information out of him. And don't forget that he has the kyuubi." Danzo said.

   "He still wouldn't go down without a fight." I said narrowing my eyes at him, he was saying that the Akatsuki took him.

   "Maybe the Akatsuki took him," Homura said it straightforwardly.

   I shook my head again. "He wasn't taken, he left by his own will." I looked at Fugaku, "and Sasuke knows why."

   Fugaku frowned, "Sasuke?"

   I nodded, "I asked him about it several times, and each time, he would start acting weird."

   "I'll talk to him," Fugaku gave a nod.

   "You should use force if he refused to tell you. This is not an ordinary shinobi we're talking about. He's a jinchuuriki, the yondaime's son, and he knows too much S-class information," Inoichi said. I tensed when he said that. "Even if he did leave by will, many dangerous shinobi will be after him." He looked at Fugaku, "if genjutsu didn't work to get it out of Sasuke, then I'll take care of it myself."

   I gritted my teeth. I didn't want to use force against a kid, but I knew that Inoichi was right. "Let me talk to him first," I said. Inoichi stared at me for a long time then gave a nod.

   "Naruto is a fuinjutsu and barrier jutsu master, right?" Shikaku spoke for the first time.

   We all turned our heads to look at him. "Yeah," I said after about a minute.

   Shikaku looked me in the eye, "are you sure he left the village?"

     •••

   As soon as the council meeting was over, I sent a message to Team Ro to stop looking for Naruto and come back to the village. I knew Danzo would have his best barrier jutsu and visual jutsu users searching for Naruto by now, so I didn't see the point in making my ANBU search for him. But I had an idea of where Naruto would be, and I knew they wouldn't find him.

   I shunshined back home and went to Naruto's room. The room was almost empty, just like Rin had said. I walked to his desk, stepping over the empty ramen cups, and opened the drawers to see if he had left anything but found nothing. I was about to turn and leave when I noticed something in the trash can.

There was a picture torn in half. I frowned. Naruto's jacket, the one he always wore, was in there too. I took them out and put the jacket on the desk, then looked at the torn picture. It was a picture of him standing beside me, but now we were both standing alone. The picture was taken on the day he entered the academy. I frowned again, why is it torn in half? My eyes widened in realization, it can't be.

I clenched my fists, crumpling the sides of the two parts of the picture. I turned to find Sasuke standing in the doorway. He seemed to have just arrived since he looked somewhat surprised, probably not expecting to find me there.

"Sasuke-kun," I said, before he could think of leaving.

"H-hokage-sama."

I looked down at the picture in my hands. We stood there in silence for a couple of minutes. Sasuke was about to leave when I finally said something. "Naruto was never an Uchiha." I looked up at him, he was staring back at me with wide eyes. "He was never my son."

   "Wh- what are y-"

   "I adopted him when he was only a few days old. Of course, I wasn't planning to lie to him about it his whole life. I was gonna tell him when he becomes a ninja. But when he became one, I couldn't bring myself to tell him." I put the picture in my pocket. "I think I didn't want him to know. I knew that he would change if I told him," I clenched my fists, "I knew he wouldn't be the same and I didn't want that." I walked towards him and stopped when I was standing beside him, "but y'know what I also knew?" He didn't answer me, he just continued to stare with wide eyes in front of him. "I knew it couldn't stay a secret forever."