Iruka kept Naruto after class, one day. “Naruto, could you stay? I'd like to talk to you.”
His fellow students giggled as they prepared to leave the class, mocking him once again. Quietly, Naruto stood in front of his teacher. He could almost guess, or sense, what Iruka wanted to say.
“Okay Naruto, how'd you do it? I couldn't detect any form of cheating. If only you applied yourself that well to actually learning the material.”
Naruto shrugged. “I didn't cheat, honest.”
The last bit of students filtering out the door seemed to disagree. “Yeah, right.”
“You just suddenly understood lessons I've been trying to teach you for the past few years? You didn't cheat?” asked Iruka.
“No, I didn't. I don't know how, but it's like I been struggling under a weight all my life and then suddenly I got a break,” said Naruto. “It was like ... I knew what you were trying to say just as you said it. Like the lesson soaked right in from outside: from you, from the class - it gave me a heckuva headache though.”
Iruka rubbed his brow in frustration. “Come again?”
Naruto sighed. He was afraid no one would believe him. He didn't understand it much himself. “I can't explain; it was like I could suddenly see the answers. As long as I focused on the lesson, it would just come to me.”
“I ... see,” Iruka conceded as he nodded his head, though he really didn't see. “And you didn't focus in class before?”
“No, not exactly. I mean ... well, I tried to follow along, really.” Naruto trailed off.
‘Honestly! That idiot! Why doesn't he just give up on being a ninja? He's hopeless!’
Naruto's eyes opened wide as he spun around to defend himself. “Sakura! That's not ...” He trailed off when he saw he was alone in the classroom with Iruka. He couldn't see anyone else around.
“Are you feeling Okay? You seem a bit distracted.”
Naruto waved the comment off. “Naw, I'm fine.”
“Right, back to the situation at hand.” Iruka was interested in getting to the bottom of things. He did care for Naruto. “I guess you could be paying more attention, your certainly have cut back on your pranks. At least, the more involved ones.”
Naruto shrugged and kicked his right toe out as he shifted his weight. “It's not like that, or anything.”
“Oh? Do you care to talk about it? I remember hearing something about a prank gone bad about a month ago. Something to do with an exploding tag.”
“Well,” Naruto drawled out, “that's just the thing. That wasn't meant to be a prank.”
Iruka was a bit worried, Naruto being taciturn was out of character for the usually lively boy. “I can't help you if you won't tell me what's the problem.”
“Can you? Help me I mean.”
Iruka's expression softened into a smile. “Of course! Why wouldn't I?”
Naruto shook his head. “No, not do you want to help, but are you able to help. Would you even begin to understand?”
“Of course. I know at your age, it seems like your all alone, but there is no problem you could have that no one else hasn't experienced at your age. What is it? Is it girls? Is it how your body seems to be changing? Because, that's normal, you know.” Iruka was careful to keep a calm, and fatherly tone to his voice. He remembered how embarrassing it was to discuss such issues with his dad, and he didn't want Naruto to feel too shy to discuss the facts of life with him.
“What?” Naruto screeched as his head whipped up, wide eyed and blushing. “It's not about that.”
“Oh?” Iruka was careful to not show his amusement at Naruto's reaction. ‘Perhaps, this will be one of those 'a friend of a friend' kind of talk.’
Naruto responded somewhat sullenly, “It's not about some friend of a friend wondering about why his balls dropped. It's just personal, that's all.”
Iruka gave Naruto a strange look before pressing on. “What ever it is, at your age it can not be so complicated that I couldn't understand it.” Though Iruka was beginning to wonder if it didn't have anything to do with the fox demon everyone believed was in Naruto. ‘Maybe I should discuss this with the Hokage.’ Naruto had missed this thought, with his own concerns on his mind.
“Well ... I think I need better control.” Naruto admitted, reflecting on how many of his instructors had said the same thing about his use of chakra. Even in his dreams, he was reminded about his poor control.
Iruka blinked at that statement. Worry laced his voice as he asked, “Do you sometimes feel out of control? Like someone else was in charge?”
“Huh?” Naruto wasn't expecting that response, though he was beginning to pick up wisps of suspicion from Iruka centered upon the hitchhiker he was burdened with. “What? Nothing like that, sheesh! I meant chakra control.”
“I fail to see what that has to do with pranks and doing well in class.” Iruka was feeling a bit lost and wanted to get things back onto track. Or, at least figure out the missing links in Naruto's explanation.
Naruto sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “That wasn't an exploding tag I was trying to make last month, not even close. But that problem and what happened today in class seemed to have started at roughly the same time.”
“What were you trying to do?”
“I thought, well, maybe I could use a wind technique on an origami swan to make it fly about. Perhaps to deliver a message to Sakura.”
“Aha,” Iruka exclaimed suddenly, interrupting Naruto, “so a girl is involved.”
Naruto rolled his eyes. “That's not the issue. The issue was the piece of paper and what was suppose to only be wind blew up in a giant whirlwind of flames.”
“Well, I am sure that was scary, but maybe you just did it wrong.”
Naruto shook his head. “That wasn't the scary part. The scary part was I didn't even feel the flames. The scary part is that no matter what I try, large amounts of fire seems to be involved. I'm afraid sneezing might burn my apartment down. I can't seem to control it.”
“I see. Well, nothing some training can't fix. Why don't we visit the Hokage and let him know.”
Naruto looked down at his feet, sheepishly, while tugging on one ear. “That's not all. That was also when I started to hear voices in my head.”
“Voices?” Iruka was worried once more. “What do these voices sound like? What do they say?”
“Not 'kill, maim, murder.'” Naruto rolled his eyes. Just like during class, he seemed to pick up on what Iruka really meant. He knew what Iruka was afraid of, even if it went unsaid. “Not those kind of voices. They sound like you, and Sasuke, Sakura, The Hokage. Like everyone.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, that's why I wanted to do better in class,” Naruto admitted.
Iruka was lost once more. “Voices in your head told you to do better in class?”
Naruto withdrew sheepishly. Iruka found it somewhat amusing, though worrisome as well. “Not like that. The voices ... I mean, I grew up feeling like the least favorite person in the village. I didn't really think anyone cared, well except for the Hokage. But once the voices started to get louder and talk more ... I mean.” Naruto sighed as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say. Iruka waited patiently. “It took time. I wasn't sure what I was feeling at first. I thought I was going crazy. But, I found there were some people I didn't want to disappoint after all. That, maybe not much, but there were actually people who cared. And I found that while I didn't care what most people thought of me, I did care for their opinion. I guess, I just sort of realized I wasn't alone.”
“And so, you'll do better in school because ... the voices in your head are your friends?” Iruka wasn't sure what to say.
Naruto chuckled without humor. “No, because I figured out how much you care and I don't want to disappoint you. Or maybe I'm just crazy. I can't tell anymore, but the voices seem real. Match up well with people and what they're doing.”
Iruka sighed. “Well, I do care. Have you talked to the Hokage about the voices in your head? He'll know what to do.”
“Not really sure how to tell him. I'm still trying to understand it myself.” Naruto turned to look out the window. ‘And if I told anyone about those two people in my dreams, they'll really think I'm crazy.’
“Well, why don't you head home to rest. And I hope to see you do as well in class as you did today.” Iruka gently guided Naruto to the door before shooing him out.
‘Phew, that wasn't what I expected. I better make an appointment to discuss this with the Hokage. He'll need to know, and maybe Naruto needs to be examined. Glad to see him taking class more seriously. Hopefully, that continues.’
Naruto trudged home, head held low. Wisps of thoughts reached out over the astral ether.
‘Look at his clothes - just shameful.’
‘Young Punk!’
‘I don't know why the Hokage doesn't just get rid of him.’
Naruto was getting used to ignoring such thoughts, as he had learned previously to dismiss the attitude of others he dealt with. Naruto's mind was, in fact, busy thinking of something else. ‘I guess the Hokage will hear of this, soon. I wonder how he'll take it.’
Sighing, he decided to go someplace where he could train in peace. ‘I still need to work on my control. Maybe I should give that one exercise a try.’ He had been dreaming of training. A nice man and a pretty lady would try to show him stuff and he'd do it. Except, it was a dream and it didn't train his body for real. And upon waking, well those were just dreams, right? He didn't want to look foolish doing something from a dream. He can just imagine Sakura laughing at him.
‘Oh, I wonder where Naruto is going? He looks sad.’
‘That's not Sakura.’ Looking around, Naruto wasn't surprised to find Hinata pretending she was looking elsewhere. ‘Ah yes, Hinata. Another one I can't afford to disappoint.’
Naruto wasn't sure why she did, but he knew she cared. Not how much, exactly, but he could feel the compassion and concern roll off of her like waves in a storm. Unsure if it would be a good idea, he decided to say hi.
Walking up to Hinata, who was still looking away, Naruto tapped her on the arm. “Hi, Hinata is it? We're in class together.”
‘Oh, smooth. She knows we're in class together. sheesh.’
Hinata jumped in surprised, unaware of Naruto's approach, and spun around, blushing.
‘Nar-Nar-Naruto-kun is talking to me?’ All she could do for awhile was stare dumbly, at a loss for words.
“Well, I just wanted to say hi. Sorry for bothering you. Are you walking this way? I'm on my way to a training ground, myself.”
Hinata nodded before shaking her own head vigorously, seemingly waking herself up. “You're not bothering me. What are you going to do at the training ground?”
Naruto shrugged. “Just some badly needed training. Can't be the best if you don't expand your limits.”
“Oh,” Hinata seemed intrigued, “where did you hear that?”
“Just some ...” guy in a dream. That'll sound insane. “I just heard it somewhere.”
Hinata nodded.
“Well, I better be off. See you in school.” Naruto waved as he walked off.
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See other episodes by Errol Peregrinus
(Posted Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:24)
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