The Power to Heal and Destroy by Phoenixsun

Chapter 17: Natural Enemies

He had left his room as little as possible during the last week. One could count how many times he had actually gotten up from his bed with one hand and still have enough fingers to pick up a coin.

Still, his apartment had been far from silent for the most part. The rooms of the small home had been filled with noise from the knocks on his door, several times per day. His perception wasn't completely honed, but the genin could easily guess the orchestrators of those knocks. First it had been Sakura and she would return later that same day, but received no answer either time. The next day it was Iruka-sensei, he had stayed the longest by far, his knocks resonated through the apartment for hours. Sakura came back the day after, she remained an hour and even called out to him, but still he gave her no acknowledgment.

The fourth day came with a surprise. Early in the morning, the Jinchuuriki was awoken by knocks from the last person he expected to visit him. Sasuke came to his door at least five times that day, yet his attempts were as successful as the others'.

He received many visits during the following days, mostly from Sakura and Iruka, though some might have been from Shikamaru or Shino, the genin wasn't sure.

Yet, despite the eagerness from his friends to talk to him, Naruto had no desire of answering their calls. The blond has suddenly found himself in a new world, a world where the Sandaime Hokage existed no more, and the boy had no idea how to move forward in it.

So he remained silent, locked inside the apartment given to him by the Old-geezer. Even the fox had refrained from speaking and simply kept to himself during his host's mourning. "This sorrow that you feel shows just how human you really are. Huh, I guess all those villagers were wrong..." After that, Kyuubi too went silent.

Naruto knew he should not dwell on his sadness; he had helped Konoha fight back the invasion and protected his friends. He knew that the Sandaime would have been proud of him, but still, he could not get rid of the feelings that were consuming him.

Yet, among the sorrow brought forth by the passing of the Old-geezer, another feeling was emerging, anger. The Jinchuuriki's sadness had been accompanied by a growing rage, rage towards himself.

On that rainy day he had shown weakness, he had revealed just how fragile he still is when he crumbled in front of Sakura. The mere memory of his failure infuriated him.

He was supposed to have changed, he was supposed to have become stronger, and he was supposed to be above the pain already. Yet, he still sought comfort in his teammate, he still required a shoulder to cry on, he still needed someone to tell him that everything will be ok. His own existence disgusted him.

So the Jinchuuriki hid, secluded himself inside his apartment and let the world go on by itself.

Suddenly, an excessively loud knock snapped the blond out of his thoughts.

"Naruto, open up!" Kiba's voice sounded throughout the apartment as the knocks sped up.

The Jinchuuriki was surprised, he had never expected Kiba of all people to come looking for him, yet the blond had little time to analyze the situation when another voice joined in. "Yeah! Come on, open the door!" Chouji's call was accompanied with a much louder knock due to the boy's physical strength.

"Do you have any idea how much you're worrying everyone by isolating yourself in here?" Naruto heard Shikamaru's voice saying. "Don't be so troublesome and just open up."

"Naruto-kun, I do not know what you are trying to accomplish here, but I promised Hinata-chan that I would not leave until I personally made sure that you are ok." Shino's borderline cynical voice added in.