Our Own Paths

Chapter 12

Naruto looked back at Iruka and nodded his head. "Yeah I think we do, my apartment is closer if you don't mind." Iruka just nodded his head and let Naruto lead the way.

The walk out of the forest was tense and very awkward for both not knowing if it was okay to speak or better to simply stay quiet, though that quickly changed when Iruka noticed Naruto pulling out his keys when they finally left the forest.

"There is no need for that, when we received word of what happened the first place we checked was your apartment." Naruto nodded his head and simply put back his keys. They fell back into that awkward silence until they finally arrived, Naruto opened his door and quickly moved aside to let Iruka through.

Iruka muttered his thanks as Naruto headed over to the dining area and took a seat. Iruka had thought that there would be just one chair but was surprised to find a second one. Iruka sat down and cleared his throat looking directly into Naruto's eyes before speaking.

"I can't tell you everything for two reasons, Naruto. Reason 1 is because you are still too young to fully understand and process the events that happened in the past and Reason 2 is you know very well since you heard me yelling at Mizuki about it." Naruto looked so tired and drained yet all he did was give a small smile "Today has already been a nightmare Sensei, what's a few more?"

Iruka reached over and grabbed Naruto's hands giving them a very tight squeeze "A few years ago the village was attacked out of nowhere, to this day no one can figure out why the nine tails attacked us. We lost so many fellow shinobi and innocent people in the crossfire that people wanted to blame someone well, anyone honestly."

Iruka stopped and took a deep breath, tightening his grip on Naruto's hands before continuing. "The only way to stop the tailed beast from fully destroying the village was to seal it and to be frank with you I do not understand why Lord 4th picked you as its vessel even to this day." Iruka once again stopped himself from speaking because the look in Naruto's eyes as he listened to the story a second time made him feel so guilty.

"So from what I can understand the village was attacked and the nine tails were causing havoc so to save the village the 4th Hokage decided that I was the perfect choice to seal the nine tails inside" Naruto's voice cracked and he had to stop himself from speaking for a moment before he continued. "How old was I?"

Iruka took back his hands and let out a shuddering sigh, trying to think of something to change the subject. His eyes land on something that surprised him "Since when did you have a dog?" In the kitchen to the right was a bag of dog food and wet cans set out, though strangely enough he never heard or seen the said dog when he was here earlier.

"Had one for a few years but that's not import-" "Oh really, what's their name?" Iruka quickly interrupted but then immediately regretted it when he saw a look of annoyance on Naruto's as he snapped back at him.  "Miso is with his brother at the moment, but that was not the question nor the answer I was looking for Sensei." Iruka stared at Naruto with a deep hard look and took a deep breath before he sent up a silent prayer.

Forgive me for what I am about to do...

"From what I could understand at the time you were at least...at least a few hours old."  There was a loud bang that startled Iruka as he watched Naruto slowly stand up looking pale and shaky. "I...I was a...a few hours old?" Iruka opened his mouth to try and say something yet no words came out, no matter how many times he tried so instead he got up and wrapped his arms around Naruto.

Well correction he tried, he was pushed back "No...do you...do you know who my parents were? Did they know what Lord 4th was going to do to me? Did they agree to this? How did they die? What were their names?" It crushed Iruka to a small fraction of hope in Naruto's eyes that he knew fully well that he was about to destroy "I do to all of them but..."

The silence hung in the air before Naruto let out a harsh laugh "Let me guess Hokage's orders?" All Iruka could do was nod his head and Naruto leaned against the wall laughing harder and harder until he slid to the ground. "Even when he is not here I still can't get anything about them hahaha" Tears streamed down his face as he continued laughing.

Iruka knew that no matter what he did it would either not work or make matters worse so he did the next best thing he could think of. He slides next to Naruto reaching out to wrap his arms fully around him whispering to him "Take all the feelings out Naruto you deserve that."

After hearing those words Naruto silently cried in his arms. The only sound in the dimly lit apartment was the sound of Naruto's heavy breathing and shaky breaths. After a while, Naruto started to calm down and slowly removed himself from Iruka's embrace and began to wipe the tears from his face.

It took him a while to collect himself but once he did Naruto looked directly into Iruka's eyes as he asked what might have been the final question of the night. "Do you see me as a monster, do you hate me?" Those two questions made Iruka stop for a moment and think. "Yes, I did I hated you from the day my parents were killed till the day I first saw you; I remember that day very well."

Iruka gave him a small sad smile as Naruto stared at him blankly. "I had just gotten back from a mission with my squamates, most of them felt like celebrating a mission well done and so we went looking through the street vendors and that's when I first saw you. I can still remember how my teammates sneered the moment they saw you, how they wanted to make you regret stepping foot in the vendor you were thrown out of.

However when I saw you all I could see was a skinny boy who needed food and he looked so scared I could not see the monster that I envisioned the vessel of the nine tails would look like. I felt compelled to approach you and apologize yet I never saw you again after that.
I felt so ashamed and disappointed in myself for a long time until the 3rd Hokage approached me with a teaching position and so I took it, I had no idea that after 2 years I would have you as one of my students."

said Iruka as he took Naruto's hands in his and squeezed them once again while giving him a genuine soft smile. "So, what I am saying is that if I did not see you after that mission or became a teacher and had you in as one of my students, I have I feeling I would have acted similarly like Mizuki but extremely less violent."

Naruto just laughed and hugged Iruka tightly whispering soft thank you over and over. After a while they both removed themselves from the hug "Tonight has been an adventure for us both, let's go to sleep tomorrow we need to give you your headband, take your photo, and explain to the Hokage what happened." Naruto let out a groan but nonetheless smiled at the words headband.

Authors Note:
I know that this "arc" has been going on for a few long chapters and I want to apologize. I set myself up to a certain amount of words to reach every chapter and I would feel too stressed out if I jammed the whole "arc" in one whole chapter 😅😅😅

So I apologize but hopefully, this will be the last chapter for this "arc" and we can move forward to the next chapter 👋👋