Naruto: The Seraph Project

Chapter 66: Among Boys

 "Do you think the boys gonna be fine?" Ino asked nervously.

"I think they should be okay," Sakura shrugged.

The kunoichi had heard feral growls resounding in a distant echo, then lightning and a few panicked voices that were added to this symphony of bad omen. They had put their ears against the wall to listen to the noise happening on the other side, while holding their breath. Obviously, someone had made Naruto angry, but they did not know the cause of that anger. They had to wait outside the baths to find out...

Fortunately, the worrying hisses had stopped; calm returned shortly after. Shikamaru had managed to silence Naruto's aggression... In fact, apart from Kakashi, he was the only one able to do so. Although reassured, Sakura could not help but be sad. This pain never left her.

She wanted to retrieve the bond she had with Naruto, to be close to him again... But the latter did not want her in the way she hoped. No matter how she tried, she only managed to push Naruto away, widen the gap between her and him. She did not know what she was doing wrong. Even Shikamaru fared better than her with him.

Naruto only had eyes for Hatake Kakashi.

Of course, she was well aware of this.

No one could ever take that place.

Since her comrade was entirely silent, she could not ask him what he did wrong either. Besides, Kakashi had not the slightest idea when she questioned him about it. By being patient, she could only wait for Naruto to open up to her. The more she insisted, the more Naruto distanced himself. It hurt her; her heart bled every night.

Sakura, Ino and Hinata were relaxing in the warm, fragrant bath water. The reason why they were here tonight, the subject of Naruto did not take long to occupy their lips.

"Has Naruto started to remember anything?" Hinata asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No... It's more complicated than that. He doesn't want to remember. We found the laboratory where he was sequestered, and they refuse to tell me anything about it. I can only assume that he must have been through hell that he wants to forget at all costs..."

Her words weighed down the now stifling air. None of them could look each other in the eye. Like Sakura, Ino and Hinata knew about this discovery, but nothing more. By order of the Hokage, the reports remained top secret; it was forbidden to divulge anything. Apart from a brief, useless summary by their brothers-in-arms that it was a laboratory of horrors, they knew nothing else. However, seeing the faces of terror and the eyes witnessing the horrors of Shikamaru and Shino, they could easily get an idea.

"That said... It's not Naruto that worries me the most," Sakura continued darkly. "I'm worried about Kakashi-Sensei."

The mention of his first name froze the blood in their veins. They were aware that Naruto was a chakra devourer and thus, knew about his strange appetite for chakra.

"Shikamaru told me he was the one who..." Ino swallowed. A shiver of dread slid down her spine. "...'feed' Naruto."

Sakura nodded. "I can't go into details," she clarified before expressing her fears. "There are the numerous bites, of course, but Kakashi-Sensei is starting to be ... very weird."

"What do you mean?" Hinata worried.

A silence.

"He's behaving more and more strangely, that's all I can say..."

Sakura refrained from saying more. This week when she was taking care of Kakashi's disastrous health, she had noticed things that were causing more and more worry in her. First, Kakashi was hiding things. He feigned ignorance by shrugging when confronted; at that, he avoided and abruptly changed the subject. It revealed that he was indeed hiding something, and that he did not want it to be known. She had seen his abnormal weight loss and his sudden difficulty eating.