In The Leaves | A 'Naruto' fan story | SasuNaru

Nothing to do with me

Team 7 returned to Konoha safely, and soon the Chunin Exams was coming around. 

Naruto trained to become a chunin, but as he did-he purposely avoided Sasuke as much as he could. He didn't want to see the other male's face till he recovered emotionally. 

The first phase of the exams was written, and luckily his seat wasn't close to Sasuke. Instead he sat next to a female genin by the name of Hinata Hyuga. A shy girl that Naruto thought of was cool and weird in her own way-she tried to help him during the written exam, but he didn't manage to get a single question before time was up.

The second phase was in the Forest of Death, which to Naruto's disbelief, he couldn't avoid Sasuke so he pushed down his painful feeling in his chest to help his team. As much as his head screamed 'run', he let himself stand close to Sasuke with a fake smile on his face.

A fake smile Sasuke could read without his new awaken Sharingan. 

Naruto left the huddle to use the bathroom, which was behind a tree, but Sasuke saw the glazed over eyes that threatened to leak tears before he left. 

Naruto was going to cry to himself-he lied to both of them to cry alone. 

Sasuke clenched his hand into a fist to hold himself back from running to Naruto's side. He couldn't let useless emotions cause him to turn back into a fool. 

His trust was broken by his own brother, so what made Naruto any different? 

Naruto had his knees to his chest and cried silently. He didn't know how it felt to lose family or anyone close, so he didn't want to hold that against Sasuke. But why did it hurt so much? 

Naruto thought of them as somewhat similar since Sasuke was alone like him, and didn't have anyone to call a close friend like him but he thought wrong. Naruto never had any parental love to experience to know how it felt to lose them. 

He didn't have an older brother he looked up to that turned his happy days into miserable memories, he didn't have a village full of people that greeted him instead of cursing his name, he didn't have someone to hold in his arms, he didn't have a mother to tell him 'welcome home' when he returned from a long day, and he definitely didn't have a father to tell him 'good job son' when he accomplished something. 

All he had was a village of people that fear him, a Hokage that he disappointed with his idiotic pranks, an empty home with instant noodle cups everywhere, and a cold bed he slept in every night wondering when he'll wake up to two parents and not a sad home. 

But this feeling was so new to Naruto, it wasn't betrayal or loneliness, it was heartbreak. 

He unconsciously let Sasuke into his life for years, from their first practice fight when they were younger, to now where they are apart of Team 7 with Sakura. 

How come he didn't notice his overwhelming emotion before? 

Did it take an accidental kiss to bring him to his senses? 

And why is Sasuke so calm and collected and Naruto is devastated?

Maybe Sasuke endured pain long enough to handle it, or he doesn't want to show his tears to anyone. 

Because the last time he did, he was showed as weak and broken. 

"Naruto! Come on! We need to finish this!" Sakura shouted. 

Naruto wiped his face with the back of his hand, and sniffed trying to build back his composure. 

He slapped himself on the face and stood up. "I can do this." Naruto mumbled and took in a deep breath. He forced the smile on his lips again and reappeared in front of his team. "Sorry about that, I drunk a lot of water before. Hehe." 

Sakura sighed and shook her head. "I told you to not consume so much. Come on so we can get this over with and win." 

"Okay, dattebayo." 

Sasuke walked behind them and mused into his own thoughts. "He was crying behind that tree, I know he was....but although I caused his tears. That has nothing to do with me."