Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Colors of Life and Death ❯ Confessions ( Chapter 33 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
I have named my muse. Why? *Shrugs* Other ppl seem to do it a lot on here so I figured, what the heck. Her name is Morgan. She's an 8-inch tall fairy with blue butterfly wings and red hair (Shoulder blade length) and she's a lunatic who makes me write stuff that I never had planned. She's also dangerous on sugar. Please read and review. I love reviews! Thanks!



As soon as Naruto got to the more populated streets of Konoha, he noticed a lot of people staring at him, especially girls. A blush crept over his cheeks, and he jogged the rest of the way to Ichiraku.




"Naruto-kun!" Naruto heard Sakura yell as he slurped up the last of his ramen. He turned around and smiled. "Hey, Sakura-chan!" "You never said if you were coming to my party or not," Sakura said. "Oh! You bet!" Naruto answered with a foxy grin. Sakura smiled, but the expression quickly fell away. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Naruto cocked his head to one side in curiosity. "Sure." He paid for his meal, and he and Sakura left.




Naruto and Sakura were sitting on the river bank next to the training ground where they had first become a team. Sakura looked at her friend, unsure of how to begin. "Iruka-sensei...told me about the present," she said quietly. Naruto frowned. "I didn't want you to know about that. Why couldn't you leave it alone?" "I just...wanted to understand what had hurt you," Sakura replied and chewed her lip. "Even so, you knew I didn't want you to know. Why the hell can't you let me have any privacy?" Naruto asked in an angry and hurt tone. Sakura's eyes misted over. "Because you're my best friend. I care about you. I can't stand not being able to help." Naruto stood up. "Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is?-! What kind of loser sits out in the rain waiting for someone he knows isn't coming?" He turned his head away from Sakura. "I was so stupid." "You weren't stupid, Naruto-kun. I really did want to be there. It was my Mom." Sakura's expression hardened in anger and she clenched her fist. "She told me you couldn't come. She wouldn't even let me call to tell you." Naruto turned back to Sakura. "Really?" Sakura stood up and hugged her friend. "Really," she said quietly. "Naruto-kun, I'm so sorry. I should've gone to tell you. I was too weak to disobey her." "I don't blame you Sakura-chan. You were only nine." "Arigato," Sakura said with a sniff. After a moment, Naruto sniffed also and broke the hug. "I have something for you." "Huh?" Naruto smiled. "Follow me!"




Sakura looked at the pile of boxes in the center of the living room of Naruto's old apartment in amazement. "You've lived at Tsunade-sama's all this time and you still haven't moved all your stuff out of here?" Naruto walked over to the pile and shrugged. "Haven't really had the time." He began digging through the contents of the boxes. "It's gotta be here somewhere." He opened another box.




Sakura was sitting on Naruto's couch and had started to nod off when.... "I found it!" Sakura looked up to see Naruto holding a present. It was wrapped (messily) in blue paper and tied with a pink bow. "Naruto...is this....?" Sakura began in disbelief. "It's...a little old," Naruto said as he handed her the present, "but I hope you like it." "He kept it...all this time?" she thought. "Arigato." Sakura sat on the couch and began to open it. Inside was something wrapped in tissue paper with an envelope sitting on top. "Open the card first," Naruto said nervously. Sakura did as instructed. On the front of the card it said happy birthday and had a picture of a brightly decorated cake on it. She opened it, and read the inside:

Dear Sakura-chan,

Thank you so much for inviting me to your party. You're the first kid who's ever been this nice to me.

Thanks,

Naruto Tears rolled down Sakura's cheeks. "I'm sorry I never got to see this...when it meant something." Naruto made a small smile. "It still does." Sakura wiped her eyes, pulled away the tissue paper, and gasped. Inside the box was a tiny, crystal dolphin. She gingerly took it from where it lay. "H...how did you know?" "One time, before you asked me to your party, I heard you telling Ino that you loved dolphins." "Thank you. I love it," Sakura said with a smile. "No prob. Anyway, I gotta get going. I'm...taking Hina-chan on a walk," Naruto said as he blushed. Sakura grinned. "I'm glad for you two. You seem so happy." Naruto's smile became contented. "Yeah...we are." "By the way...I love your new outfit," Sakura said. Naruto smiled. "Thanks."




Naruto and Hinata sat on top of the Hokage monument, holding hands and looking out over the city. "Naruto-kun?" Naruto turned to her and smiled. "Yeah?" "I...I wanted to tell you something." "What is it?" Hinata gulped. She looked at his face, nearly losing herself in the two pools of blue that were his eyes. "I...I lo...." She stopped for a moment and began fiddling with her hands, desperately trying to keep herself from tenting her fingers. She looked up at him again. "I...I love you." She froze in place, afraid to move. Naruto couldn't think, couldn't move, could barely breath. In other words, he was in shock. He had no idea what to say, and he hated that because he knew she was waiting for an answer. Hinata was suddenly terrified she'd told him too soon. "Naruto-kun?" The first, ever so wonderfully intelligent thing that tumbled out of Naruto's mouth was, "Really?" Hinata blinked in confusion. "Wh...what?" "You...you really love me? Like... in love with me?" Naruto asked, the look of shock still on his face. Shaking, Hinata nodded. "H...hai." Naruto swallowed. "I never thought a girl would love me. I...I don't know what to say." A tear escaped Hinata's right eye. "You...don't have to say anything. It's...o...okay, if you don't feel the same way." "I don't know how I feel. I mean, I like you...a lot. I'm just not sure if it's love. Can you give me some time?" Naruto asked with an apologetic tone. More tears fell down Hinata's pale face. "H...hai." Naruto frowned. "Don't cry. I hate seeing you cry," he said as he wiped away her tears. Hinata took in a shaky breath and nodded. Naruto pulled her to him. She laid her head on his shoulder and the two stared at the early evening sky.




"Okay. Let's start with molding for now," Tsunade said to Naruto as Tomoyo watched from a relatively safe distance. "Hai," Naruto put his hands together and chakra began to surround his body. Tomoyo's mouth dropped open as she stared at Naruto's chakra. "It's so...beautiful." It was like someone had dropped paint in all the colors of the rainbow into a bowl of liquid light and stirred, just enough to make the colors swirl and dance in delicate ribbons. "It is pretty, isn't it?" Tsunade said with a warm smile. "Alright, Naruto. Let's try something simple." Naruto put his hands into his favorite seal. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" He instantly regretted using that technique. Clones filled the entire field...but they also extended off the field, into the forest, onto the streets, and finally ending near the front gates of the village. Tsunade and Tomoyo's eyes wide as could be. "I think this is going to be more difficult than we anticipated," Tsunade commented. "The Uzumaki stamina strikes again," Tomoyo said with a wry smile. Naruto released the jutsu and stumbled a bit before sitting down while he regained his strength. "The Uzumaki stamina?" Tomoyo nodded. "Nhm. Every member of the Uzumaki family has always had massive stamina and huge chakra stores. I supposed you could call it a bloodline limit, although no one ever did...officially." "Then why couldn't Minako create the steel jutsu again?" Naruto asked. Tomoyo frowned. "For some reason, it passed over her. We never found out why." "So, you have the same abilities?" "Nhm. But no where near your level. At best, I could fill about a third of this field. Arashi's level of stamina and chakra was unusually high, even for a member of our family, so of course, yours is too. Not to mention the niji chakra amplifies it." "Maybe you should just try henge for now, Kiddo," Tsunade suggested. "HENGE!" Tsunade and Tomoyo began laughing. "Well, we know who's on your mind," Tomoyo said. "Huh?" Naruto looked down to see he had transformed into Hinata. "AH!" he yelled, and quickly canceled the jutsu. Tsunade coughed a bit as she tried to regain her composure. She lost the battle when she saw Naruto's face was red as a tomato. "Alright already!" Naruto protested loudly. Tsunade wiped the tears of laughter from her brown eyes. "Alright. It seems like henge is no problem, but I'm tentative about having you use other, more wide spreading jutsus, like kage bunshin, until you have a better handle on this." Naruto frowned, then perked up. "What about rasengan?" Tomoyo's head whipped sideways, and she stared at Naruto. "You can perform rasengan? Who taught you?" "Ero-sennin." "Who the heck is Ero-sennin?" "Oh...right. I mean Jiraiya," Naruto answer with a slight snicker. Tomoyo laughed as well. "I'm not the slightest bit surprised." Naruto grinned and held out his hand, palm up. As he concentrated, a rainbow-colored ball of light appeared. "Good. Now hold it there for a few minutes," Tsunade instructed. The rasengan in Naruto's hand suddenly grew in size by a small margin. "What the hell?" "What?" Tsunade asked. "It got...bigger," Naruto replied. Tsunade walked closer to him and eyed the rasengan warily. "Maybe you should cancel it for now." Now nervous, Naruto nodded and concentrated on the jutsu. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect, and the ball doubled in size. Tomoyo and Tsunade instinctively jumped back a few feet. "Naruto! Shut it down!" Naruto's eyes were wide with panic. "I...I can't!!" "Tomoyo-chan! RUN!" Tsunade screamed. Tomoyo didn't move, obviously concerned for her cousin's well being. "GO! I'll help him!" Tsunade urged. Tomoyo gritted her teeth in frustration, but did as she was told. The ball grew again. Tsunade was afraid. Afraid for her son, and for the village she'd sworn to protect. "Naruto, you need to calm down! The adrenaline your body's producing is making it grow faster!" Naruto closed his eyes and tried to think of things that calmed him. Ramen, the sounds of the river near his old apartment...Hinata. The rasengan shrank in size, eventually dissipating all together. He opened his eyes and sighed in relief. Tsunade ran to Naruto and pulled him into a crushing hug. "Kaa-san...I'm okay." Tsunade sighed and released her son. "I need to talk to Jiraiya about this, but for now, I'm removing you from active duty." "NANI?-!" "I'm sorry, but it's just too risky to give you missions right now. Please understand," Tsunade said as she put her hand on his shoulder. Naruto gritted his teeth. "Fine," he growled. "I'll see you back at the house, neh?" "Hai," Naruto replied quietly. As he watched her go, he suddenly found himself feeling a little woozy and sat down. As he held his head in his hands, he heard a voice. "Still pathetic as usual, eh?" Naruto sat up, stock straight. "Who said that?" "You've forgotten what I sound like already? I'm hurt, Brat." Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he barely managed to whisper the name of the voice's owner. "Kyuubi."

.........TO BE CONTINUED


*Dives into reader proof room and activates defense systems* *cough* Ya know what's funny about the last 5 sentances? I literally did not have that planned until 5 minutes b4 I wrote it. *Glares at Morgan* I'm still trying ta figure out what I'm gonna do with this plot twist. *sweatdrop*