Holy crap I messed up, Iruka thought as he slowly approached them. The Hokage noticed that Iruka held a bag of clothes for Sasuke and nodded his head "Sasuke why don't you go with Iruka and get a change of clothes, me and Captain Hatake will have to discuss what you just told us."
Sasuke only nodded mutely and headed over to Iruka. Iruka grabbed his hand and led him out of the Uchiha compound to his apartment. "Did you answer all the questions that they had?" Sasuke only gave a nod which then led Iruka to leave the room, giving Sasuke the privacy, he needed to change out of his clothes.
The rustle of clothes was heard while Iruka waited for him to be done changing. "I'm done Iruka Sensei, anything else?" Iruka turned, it was a little refreshing to see that his student was in a pair of clean clothes "I would have to guess that you had nothing to eat, can you stomach a meal right now, or no?"
Sasuke nodded his head, which caused Iruka to let out a sigh of relief. "Alright, I don't think any shop is open at the moment except a ramen shop I believe, are you fine with that?" "Sure" At the moment Iruka went over to grab his discarded clothes "NO!" Sasuke slapped his hands away and held on to the clothes very tightly.
"Hey, do not freak out, I'm just going to put it in the laundry room, no one will touch it but you." It took a couple of minutes before Sasuke nodded his head letting Iruka put his clothes in the laundry room.
"Alright let's go then, the ramen shop is a little far from where I stay so it will be a bit of a walk." Sasuke let out a hum in acknowledgment as he headed for the door waiting for Iruka to grab the things that he needed before finally setting off.
True to Iruka's words it indeed took a while to arrive at the said ramen shop, just as they were about to enter Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks. "What's the matter Sasuke?" "Naruto" Iruka was confused for a moment before he turned his attention back to the ramen shop.
Oh "Here's the payment I promised to give to you, I won't be stayi- Iruka Sensei? What are you doing here?" True to Sasuke's word it was none other than Naruto himself...paying for his own meal.
"I came over to have some ramen, never been here before and Sasuke stayed at the academy way too late, so I brought him over for a meal." Naruto looked at both of them for a second before bursting into laughter. "Well, you came to the right place Sensei, have a seat, this place is the best ramen in the whole world."
Iruka let out a nervous laugh as he and Sasuke made their way inside the small shop. "Welcome, what can I get for you?" The owner greeted them both before he noticed Naruto "Naruto, why are you still here I thought you were leaving." Naruto shook his head "These two are new customers and since I'm one of your favorite customers I thought that I'll show them the best ramen you have!"
The owner let out a laugh at those words "Why thank you very much for your input, but why don't we let them decide." Naruto only hummed in acknowledgment, barely listening to what the owner was saying as he was telling Iruka and Sasuke what the best meal to order was.
Once they ordered their ramen, Naruto stayed behind to chat with the owner as Iruka quietly began to talk to Sasuke. Soon their meal was served, and Naruto decided it was time for him to go when all of a sudden, another person entered the ramen shop.
"Oh, hi" Iruka looked up to see who Naruto was talking to, surprised to see that it was the Hokage. "Naruto at least be a little respectful, he is the Hokage after all." Naruto looked back at the Hokage before walking back over to them and taking a seat, completely ignoring everything he just said.
Iruka only shook his head before looking back at the Hokage "Lord 3rd I need to speak to you, do you mind waiting for me Sasuke?" Sasuke let out a hum, staring at his untouched ramen as Iruka left to speak to the Hokage.
Once they were out of ear shot Iruka knelt to the ground "I am deeply sorry for what I did earlier today, I had no intention to be disrespectful and go against your orders." The Hokage only shook his head "Iruka do not apologize, you were worried about your student, but you did break protocol; I have to leave that punishment part to Captain Hatake."
Iruka got up slowly and nodded his head "I understand, I'll deal with the punishment as required." The Hokage let out a small smile before turning his gaze back towards the ramen shop. "How is the boy?"
Iruka thought for a moment before answering "He is in a state of shock, not bothering to speak much, and will most likely be in denial for a long while before accepting what happened, but I'm more concerned about a place for him to stay for the night."
"His sleeping arrangements have already been made; I would request that you take him there once you're done with your meal. We have funerals to prepare." Once that was said and done the Hokage left, leaving Iruka to be alone with his thoughts.
With a shake of his head Iruka went back to the ramen shop to see that Naruto had taken his spot and moved his ramen over to the side. By the looks of it Naruto has not noticed that Iruka had returned because he was focused on speaking to Sasuke.
Naruto was whispering softly to Sasuke about something but the moment he noticed Iruka's presence he backed off quickly. "Sensei I don't think that Sasuke is feeling very well, he is not eating anything and looks tired." Iruka came over and patted Sasuke on the back.
"If this is too much, I can ask to get the food to go." Sasuke only nodded his head, eyes still glued to his ramen bowl. "Well, if that's the case I guess we can leave." Iruka paid for their meal and packed Sasuke's food up, just as they were about to leave, he turned over to Naruto.
"I forgot to say this, but you can have my ramen, I did not take a single bite of it, and this is the only thing I can think of for keeping us company." Naruto looked up from his little frog wallet and gave Iruka a big smile "Well thanks Sensei but I'm good, the one you ordered tastes salty to me." Iruka just shook his head "Well if that's the case I'll treat you to some ramen when I have free time okay?"
A look of shock passed through his face before Naruto gave a small nod in agreement. "Well, if he is not going to take the ramen can you please take it since you ordered two boxes to go."
Iruka agreed and went over to grab his box. When Iruka turned around he saw that Naruto had gone over to Sasuke talking to him, or more like he was talking, and Sasuke was ignoring him.
"Well goodnight, Naruto, I expect you to be early tomorrow for school." Naruto made a face before quickly departing to go back home. "You will not be able to stay with me tonight, the Hokage has made arrangements for you to stay somewhere else for the time being, I'll bring your clothes from my place and your home over to you tomorrow."
Sasuke looked up at Iruka for a while before he began to speak "Where will I be staying?" Iruka opened his mouth to respond before he stopped. "I actually don't know, I'll have to ask the Hokage, do you mind if you stay at my place for a bit as I go and ask?" Sasuke thought for a moment and just nodded his head.
Iruka dropped off Sasuke and quickly headed to the Hokage's office. Once alone all Sasuke did was sit on the floor, he wanted to cry and yet his pride won't let him. Flashes of what happened kept him from falling asleep along with the words that Naruto uttered to him before Iruka came back....
YOU ARE READING
Our Own Paths
FanfictionNaruto had nothing to call his own, no family, no friends, no love, no one to look up to and protect him. He has to fight for people to acknowledge him. Sasuke had everything till he lost everything; he has to push through his grief in order to achi...
