Thinking.(Naruto)

Chapter Four

The way back was tiresome, and the energy and happiness Naruto has felt while playing cards with his friends had vanished into thin air leaving him lonely once more. The goodbye with Gaara and his siblings was empty, looking at them made his heart strings twinge and it didn't help that Gaara looked sincerely worried for him. Before he left he leaned into Naruto's ear and whispered;
"Become the hokage, and remember that even when you're the hokage we will always be friends and I will always care about you." To which Naruto only nodded and smiled at him. "Thanks Gaara," he whispered back.
Now they were all headed back to the leaf, the trip being quiet and peaceful with a comforting kind of silence among the four of them. It took them three days to get back at the gates of Konoha and their mission was a success. Tsunade paid them in full and gave them a few days off to compensate for the week long trip,however, they would all return to work in two days time to take care of a load of missions the leaf had been receiving.
"Good work Team Seven, you guys worked hard this trip. I'll see you in a couple days, ja-ne." Sasuke and Sakura watch as Naruto walk away to which they also walk away, each returning to their own homes. When Naruto walks into his apartment there is a lump that makes its way into his throat. His door is smashed in, the walls covered in graffiti, and upon walking in he notices shards of glass on the floor, his drawers are open and his kitchen cabinets hanging barely from the wall. This fucking sucked. 'This really fucking sucks'. Setting his bag down a whine escapes his lips. "Why?" He whispers the tears now flooding down his face like a waterfall. Small skinny fingers reach for the hem of his shirt and clench it roughly. The room is spinning around his and his chest is tight. He can't breathe. Hecantbreathehecantbreathehecantbreathedeargodhecantbreathe. And like that Naruto's world is crumbling around himself, and his chest was caving in from all this hurt. He can't even leave his house for a moment, everything the old hokage left him in shambles, and everything that he worked to get himself torn into pieces. He's sweating, the world is spinning, the lights are on and off, and the lump in his throat lets out a distinguishing cry. He sits there lifeless for a moment, the spark he once had in his eyes completely drowned out in empty tears. Naruto sits there for hours, unable to move his body out of his pure sadness. It's not until he hears the echo of a footstep near him. There's a shadow leering over him, Naruto looks straight at it and is not only paralyzed, but he is scared.
"Naruto?" Comes a soft voice. "Naruto are you okay? What happened here?" The figure comes closer and to Naruto's surprise it's Iruka. "Oh Iruka-sensei it's you..." Iruka crouches down to look Naruto in the eyes, his eyebrows are furrowed in a worried expression and his eyes are staring into Naruto's blue ones as if trying to take their whole story. "What happened to your apartment?" Naruto slowly moved his head from side to side. "My apartment...?" He asks. "Oh... yeah.. that's right, my apartment. I'm sorry Iruka, but what time is it?" Concern is clearly written on the older mans face, he's worried to the point he's shaking himself. "It's 6:57 PM Naruto, how long have you been here?" Naruto's eyes wandered. 'How long had he been here?' He can't seem to remember much aside from the panic attack.... his apartment was destroyed as was his heart. "I don't know." Naruto mumbled. "Can you at least tell me what happened to your apartment?" Iruka reached his hand down to lift the boy up and Naruto gradually took it. "It's been destroyed, it was like this when I got back." Bike rose in the back of Iruka's throat. 'Had Naruto been living like this all alone? With all his shit being constantly fucked up?' "Hey, I'll call Kakashi, and maybe even Jiraiya-sama, I heard he's in town, wanna go catch some ramen? I don't think you've eaten." The blonde emptily nodded he wasn't in a position to refuse help right now.
So there they were again, Naruto and Iruka sat at Ichiraku Ramen in silence, waiting for the two others. "Hey Naruto- I mean you would-... you would tell me if you were going through something... wouldn't you?" Iruka looked over at him seriously. Cerulean eyes avoided contact but nonetheless the small form simply nodded his head. "Naruto? Iruka?" Kakashi said walking towards the two. "I got your message Iruka, you said you wanted me to meet you here?" Before Iruka could say anything out of the shadows came, the legendary toad sage sanin, Jiraiya. "YOOOOOOO! It is I, the Legendary toad sage, JIIIIIIIIRRRAIIIIYAAAAA!" The two older men sweat dropped. Good to know Jiraiya hasn't changed. "You said to meet you here did you not, Iruka?" The white haired toad sage looked over at Naruto and back at the two as if signaling with his eyes wanting to know what this was about. Iruka nods. "Of course, now come and sit beside me, enjoy some ramen on me." The look in Iruka's eyes tells them that this is important. "Hey kiddo," Jiraiya says patting Naruto's hair softly. "Hi," is the soft reply. "Hey not to rain on anyone's parade but care to tell me what this is about?" Kakashi asks grabbing a pair of chopsticks and patiently waiting for his bowl of miso ramen. Iruka frowned looking away from the two men and down at his bowl of soup. "Naruto's apartment.... has been destroyed..." Naruto also looked away, his stomach churned as he thought of old man third and how all that stuff in there was given to him as a gift. Naruto was useless, he wasn't anything special, he couldn't protect his belongings never-mind his comrades. Jiraiya and Kakashi looked at the boy in concern but all Naruto could do is avoid their gaze.
This really fucking sucked.