Not Alone

Chapter 22

     Naruto felt his heart squeeze, and his breath quickened. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he fell to his knees, hugging the orange fox who ran to him, licking his face, and jumping around. Anything Naruto had to say died in his throat; any hatred he had for the third Hokage vanished for a moment. Sasuke, however, was livid because, unlike Naruto, he was able to put two and two together and realized the third Hokage had no intention of telling Naruto, but for what he could not say.

"Naruto, please explain to me what you two were doing in my office at this hour of the night?" He asked, sounding a bit on edge. This made Naruto tense up a bit, knowing that an 'it's complicated' won't work on Hiruzen.

"We received word that Naruto's fox had been seen around the village. We decided that if anyone were to know anything, it'd be you. Although it's clear the story got a bit twisted," he finished, saving both of them from the horrendous lie Naruto would've come up with. The Hokage looked at Naruto only to find him nodding in agreement.

"Alright, but what were you two doing out together so late at night?" he questioned, making both Naruto and Sasukes mouths go dry. Both of their eyes met each other, and when they realized neither of them had an answer, well, panic ensued.

     "Well, you see, I was going on late-night ramen... run!" Naruto started, while Sasuke continued.

     "And I was going to get, uh, more... Bread. For breakfast tomorrow morning, because Kakashi said he has something important to tell us, so I wanted to be prepared," he said, making Naruto look at him, confused.

     "He did?" he asked, and Sasuke felt his soul and will to live, ascend.

     "Yes, Naruto, he did," he said, teeth clenched and eyes into a stone-cold glare. Naruto immediately realized he was an idiot and Pretended to remember what Sasuke was talking about.

     "Oh yeah! How could I forget!" Naruto said, trying to avoid Kuramas unimpressed gaze.

     "Then, while we were walking back from our things, we crossed paths, and while we were about to say goodbye, we heard the gossip of some villagers and came over here," Sasuke said, clinging onto this poorly made lie for dear life. Hiruzen looked at the two of them, unimpressed.

     "Then, Sasuke, where is your bread?" Hiruzen asked solely for his amusement. Sasuke turned pale and looked at Naruto, who immediately blurted out,

     "I ate it on the way here," he said, trying to look as calm as possible. At this, Hiruzen stifled a laugh, his mood suddenly more pleasant.

     "Alright, well, Naruto, you can take Kurama back now, I suppose. I was supposed to give him to you tomorrow morning, but because you've come to pick him up, I don't think I should keep you waiting," he said, handing Naruto the leash. Naruto took the leash and started at the Hokage for a moment.

     "Thank you for bringing Kurama back. I'm happy you didn't forget our deal." Naruto said, his tone slightly more on edge, a bit more threatening. Hiruzen looked at him, more on guard.

     "We had no deal, Naruto. I brought him to you so you could be at ease, nothing more," he said, a new edge to his voice. Naruto looked at him, a slight grin on his face.

     "Say what you want, but in the end, you gave me my fox only two days later," he said, going towards the window. Hiruzen scoffed, turning his head towards the door, and Sasuke... well, he was pretty confused. He didn't get the chance to be confused long since by the time he looked at Naruto; he was halfway out the window.

     Naruto crawled out of the window, his fox following suit and Sasuke following closely behind. Once they got far enough from the Hokages office, Sasuke looked over at Naruto only to find he had tears streaming down his face. Sasuke stopped immediately, Naruto stopping as well.