The Right Way Around: Book One

Chapter Three

Ino's jaw dropped and her eyes were like saucers. "My...dad? Are...is... what...did Naruto do? Is he gonna be interrogated?"

Sasuke's gaze darkened, his posture straightening properly and his whole demeanor became intense then it had been prior. Even his voice took on a deeper, grave tone. "I think someone tortured him." Everyone gasped.

Silence washed over the group as they all reflected over this new information. Naruto, the brightest, weirdest kid in their class had been tortured. Who would torture a 12-year-old? And why? Naruto was an orphan who lived alone and didn't really have anything. So why? He wasn't even a clan heir. He wasn't a prodigy or a genius. It didn't make any sense why anyone would kidnap him and torture him. And why the hell had they bitten him!? That was just psychotic!

"He must know something. Or there's more to Naruto than any of us ever considered." Shikamaru let out a resigned sigh.

None of the rookie 9 had ever dealt with something like this. Sure they read about torture, prisoners of war, death and all that. But they had never experienced it. They were still or had been, innocent and naive to the cruelty of the world despite their texts. Not even the fangirls could bring themselves to behave as immaturely as they normally would. Couldn't bring themselves to pine and fawn over Sasuke.

What they were dealing with now was likely the heaviest thing they had ever had to deal with. Aside from Sasuke who had gone through the horror of his entire clan being murdered by his older brother and then tortured by said brother in Itachi's Tsukuyomi. In reality, Sasuke was probably the only one who could remotely understand what Naruto was going through. Though not even Sasuke had gone through the level of hell that Naruto had.

"I'm going to bring him flowers..." Ino suddenly spoke up. She glanced around at everyone else. "Anyone wanna come with me..?" She wouldn't openly admit it but after Sasuke's gathered information she was kind of scared to be alone with the blond.

Sakura looked down then shook her head slightly. She was still a single-minded, selfish fangirl. So unless Sasuke decided to haul his drool-worthy ass back to the hospital she wasn't going. This earned her an irritated glance from almost everyone in the group but because she wasn't looking at anyone except Sasuke, she didn't notice.

"I-I'll ta-tag along I-ino." Hinata offered a shy, nervous smile without looking directly at Ino. "C-can I b-buy some f-flowers for Na-naruto too?" Ino gave her a smile and nod of encouragement.

"I'm coming as well." Shikamaru stood up, dusting the back of his shorts off. Chouji stepped up next to him in silent support of his friend and to also convey he was going too.

Kiba sighed, looking at everyone. "Are we sure this many people should be going to visit him? If Sasuke's right and he was tortured could even handle seeing us all at the same time? He couldn't even handle Sasuke visiting him. Twice." The Inuzuka had a point.

Shino nodded in agreement with his classmate and future teammate. "It would be best to go in pairs over the next few days."

"Well, then Chouji and I are going first." Shikamaru shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"What!? No way! Then I'm coming with you guys!" It was Kiba who spoke up. "The three of us were the only ones who hung out with the guy. If you two are going, then I am too." He sniffed, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly.

Chouji looked at Shikamaru with raised eyebrows. Shikamaru gave a long-suffering sigh. "Fine. Whatever." This is such a drag.

"I'll try visiting him tonight, maybe tomorrow." Grunted Sasuke. "By myself." He muttered as an afterthought. Sakura looked wounded, shoulders slumping, having held the hope that she could use the hospital visit as an excuse to have some alone time with her crush. Why did he want to see Naruto on his own anyway? He hated Naruto. Or at the very least, was thoroughly annoyed by him on a consistent and frequent basis.