He didn't care.
Anger at the world, anger at his brother, these had been joined by a new companion.
Anger at himself.
Some of his fangirls had come up with the idea that he'd fled through the wall of poison gas in order to find and bring help. He had just collapsed from the poisonous mist before he could find help. He didn't deny it, though he knew it had not been the case.
No, he'd fled because the Killing Intent had overwhelmed him and reminded him of that night. That night that had engraved itself on his memory and left him alone in this world.
He blamed his brother for it, to a large extent, when he'd had a chance to calm down and analyze the events. The teachers had suggested ALL of them do that. What could they have done better/different? What do you do when overmatched? What do you do when faced by certain death? He'd then gone on to realize that it was a flaw within himself that had made it possible, and something that would hamstring him later when he DID find his brother.
That idiot that showed up as a dog every so often (not the boy with the dog, who was another idiot altogether) was not as useless as previously seen. Which was something that he hadn't seen himself, but that Sasuke Uchiha had been told of. Repeatedly.
Not that dog-boy had escaped the whole thing without a scratch. He healed unnaturally fast though.
Sasuke had decided the teachers were right this time. It WAS a teachable moment. It had revealed a flaw within himself he had to address. Next time he would not run. Next time he would show everyone just what an Uchiha could do.
Hinata Hyuga was not at all used to everyone giving her approval, but she discovered one thing right away.
She liked it.
Even her father had nodded and looked almost as if he would smile at her at some point. How bizarre was that?!
It didn't mean that in a practice match against Neji that she did any better. He still beat her into a rather painful heap on the floor. He was a genius of the Hyuga style, and she... was not.
However she had stood up and taken the first opportunity to disable a much higher ranked attacker. She had not collapsed in fear like some had. Well, not for long at any rate.
On the way to school, she wasn't at all unhappy about Naruto falling into step beside her. No, not unhappy at all. She was aware of some people giving Naruto a wide berth after seeing his 'hybrid form' and his savagery. She was aware of rumors being circulated about how one day he'd snap and show what a beast he really was.
Hinata blushed deeply and found the courage within her to step just a little closer to Naruto as they walked to the Academy. Her hand fluttered a little, wanting to reach out and twine her fingers around his.
Well, she had that courage within her, didn't she? It was just a matter of finding the right time.
Danzo scowled. He was not happy. Not happy at all.
He was Konohagakure, and Konoha was him. What benefited him was good for Konoha, what displeased him was not beneficial for the village.
Instead of an attack that would leave the brat friendless and outcast without revealing his hand to ANBU or the Hokage, or the councillors not under his control, he had actually BENEFITTED the brat.
How bitter a pill THAT was to swallow.
Still, he was the master of shifting things around to his own benefit. He would find a way to take advantage of this, and eventually get the little beast into ROOT. Or kill him. There was more than one way to use a tool after all.
Sakura Haruno eyed the boy walking into school with a new eye, aware of Ino doing the same. That stupid pig.
Sasuke had gone for help, which was the smart and mature thing to do. Braving the purple cordon of mist that had formed at the start of the battle to save everyone.
Naruto, on the other hand, had been too stupid to know when he was outmatched. He also would NOT leave one of his friends behind. Then he'd turned into a cool-looking thoroughly kick-buttocks combat machine that had practically severed one arm on the lead attacking ninja while leaving deep cuts and claw marks all over the place.
She'd heard that the ninja attacker had survived but most likely could never be a ninja again due to those injuries. She'd also heard that they were listed as missing-nin and their home village wanted them back to be punished.
She knew about that, but she also wanted to know more about Naruto now. He wasn't a great student, but damn - wasn't that an awesome jutsu he had?
And quite frankly - awesome was good in her book.
He even had a nickname that was cool. Well, two actually. "Konoha's Golden Beast" and "Man-Wolf Of The Leaf" - either of which just had a nice sound to it.
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(Posted Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:17)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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