A Different Path

The Twisted Truth

Naruto's clouded gaze slowly drifted towards the sea of trees over his left, his upper eyelids somehow getting heavier. And not from sleep deprivation.
"When I was a kid, unlike you and your brother, I grew up as an orphan. But even the people at the orphanage hated me." His lips curled into a small humorless smile, which made Sasuke's stomach churn. The raven's eyes moved onto his branch, ashamed of having told the young Naruto that he couldn't possibly understand him. When, in fact, he did, better than anyone could have ever done. "They didn't want me there anymore. But my luck was that Lord Third didn't see me as the same monster the villagers did." Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, the taste in his mouth suddenly getting bitter.

He remembered when the Third Hokage had died, killed by his own student. Out of all people, Naruto had been especially devastated by his death. And thus, the more hate he'd been harnessing for Orochimaru.
The Uchiha felt a pang as soon as the blond gritted his teeth, a wave of sadness passing on his whiskered face.
"I'm sorry.." He wanted to bring him some comfort but then again, he didn't know how.
"Don't be. It's not your fault that he died." Naruto sighed as a sign to forget about it. "He took me under his wing and once I was of age, he had me undergo training with the ANBU. I'd trained with lots of shinobi. Ibiki taught me how to extract intell, Yamato helped me with ninjutsu, Kakashi with taijutsu and Anko.." Naruto grimaced while flashbacks came to him. "God.. Anko was just Anko." A small chuckle escaped his pinkish lips and that made Sasuke feel better. "But my actual teacher and caretaker had always been Itachi." The raven felt the blood freeze in his veins and every single hair rose on the back of his pale neck.

Itachi? My.. My older brother? The murderer of my clan?
"Itachi.. Itachi raised you?" Sasuke asked him incredulously, his voice thinning out completely as if life itself had left his body. He said it so lowly that he wasn't even sure that Naruto had heard it. But he had.
"Yes. Ever since I was eight years old." The Jinchuriki crossed his muscled arms over his toned chest, sighing softly. Pain was visible in his dead pools of blue. But Sasuke was even worse. He felt as if the world was shaking around him. He could not believe his ears.

"Itachi Uchiha? The man who slaughtered his clan? The one who murdered his own parents in cold blood? My parents?" Narrowing his eyes, cold rivers of sweat ran down his spine and his hands trembled slightly. He hugged himself only to feel his breath quicken, his heart threatening to burst out of his chest. He was almost hyperventilating. Sasuke could no longer comprehend what was going on around him. Especially the warm feeling of Naruto's strong arms wrapped around his body, the blond's hands gently leading Sasuke's face into the crook of his neck. At that very moment, time stood still. There was no howling of the wind, no cold air against his sweaty skin, no crackle of the fire beneath, nothing. Just the soothing music of Naruto's calm heartbeat.

To Sasuke's surprise, the Uzumaki buried his face into the raven's collarbone and snuggled into his neck, as a means of saying 'shh, I'm here, everything is fine'. His warm breath formed goosebumps on Sasuke's exposed patch of skin that his chunin vest couldn't cover.
In return, the young Uchiha wrapped his arms around the other's neck and pressed his cheek against his chest, breathing softly as his heart calmed down. It was the first time they had hugged in two, lonely and painful years of staying away from each other.

Breathing into his peppermint scent one more time, Naruto turned his head only to brush the right side of Sasuke's neck with his whiskered cheek, holding him so tightly as if he was afraid that he might disappear any second. The blond's hair tickled Sasuke's sensitive skin in a way which made him feel safe, sending a shiver down his spine.
"He wasn't a killer. He's never been. But that night, something must have snapped in him, Sasuke. And whatever it was, it wasn't your fault, okay?" Naruto couldn't possibly bring himself to tell him the truth. He had made a promise to Itachi. So instead, he pulled away from the embrace to cup Sasuke's face, his gentle eyes staring into the coal-black ones.
The raven's lips curled into a small smile, that had always been meant for Naruto's gaze alone.

~~Back In The Village~~

"Come in." Tsunade's hoarse voice came out from the other side of the wooden door. She sounded as if she had been crying. And a sense of unease came over Sasuke's body. Something's wrong.
Cocking an eyebrow, Kakashi turned the door handle and pushed it open, revealing Lady Tsunade sitting at her desk with slightly swollen eyes and an old toad right next to her.

Their grim faces brought no relief to Sasuke's heart.
"Lord Fukasaku? What are you doing here?" Naruto took a few steps forward, towards the wise elder. Unlike the others, the raven could feel the urgency in his voice. He was worried. So he knows the toad. Must be because he's learned Sage Mode.
"Naruto-Boy.. " The pained toad seemed to have swallowed up his own words. "I'm afraid Jiraiya-Boy has died in battle."

Silence.

For a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity, there was no sound. Sasuke could only hear his heartbeat and nothing else. Sakura's low gasp broke the ice. Lord Jiraiya's been.. Killed? The Legendary Sannin? Who.. Who'd have the power? Returning to reality, the Uchiha moved his stunned gaze onto Naruto, and his body tensed up immediately. The blond's fists were clenched and trembling slightly. But his eyes, they were just.. Dead. Not hate, not pain, nothing.
"Who?" Sasuke flinched inwardly upon hearing Naruto's cold voice. It had never been so repulsive, almost dripping venom.
"Pain of the Akatsuki." Naruto didn't need anything else. He turned around on his heels and pulled his hood back up, hiding his flowing emotions into the shadow, walking away from the others. He's leaving.. Again.. Tch!

"Naruto-!" Sakura barely got to close her mouth when he disappeared in a black cloak, which soon dissipated.
"Let him be, Sakura." Tsunade grabbed her head into her hands, frowning softly. Her hurt gaze moved onto Fukasaku, who could only imagine what was bound to happen next.
"You are aware of what will happen, aren't you, Lady Tsunade?" He sighed as he crossed his greenish arms over his belly.
"Yes.. He's going to kill Pain."

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Heya! I promised you guys another chapter before I left, right? Here you go! Naruto seems to have a soft spot for someone! I wonder who that is..😌
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! I dunno when I'll update next, but I'll try as soon as possible!
Next time, on Naruto Shippuden:
'Pouring Rain'
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~See ya!~
~Bella~
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