Painfully Aware with So Much to Learn

Chapter Nine: Confrontation

I noticed Naruto, who waved Sasuke and I over to where he was sitting, he had managed to fit 3 sleeping foxes on his lap and was staring at a pile of familiar black fluff. I went and sat down near the blonde and the pitch black creature, noticing a few tufts of bright orange fur in the center of the void and assuming that to be Hikari.

But just after I sat down Kage woke up, picked up Hikari by the scruff of the neck, and proceeded to cuddle Hikari in my lap instead of the grass. Naru chuckled and I blushed a bit.

"Oh Sasuke, just sit cross legged anywhere, I already explained that you're safe."Naruto mentioned when he noticed my raven rival, offhandedly admitting that he could talk to foxes.

"Okay..?" he sat down as he was told on the other side of Naruto, and then one of the other foxes inspected him. To everyone's surprise, the fox then gave him a stick, yipping something at Sasuke that made Naruto stifle a laugh. Both Sasuke and I looked at him curiously before he explained.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke the fox gave you a stick because you looked sad" he chuckled. I burst out laughing, leaning back on my hands to look at Sasuke and prevent my laughing from bugging the foxes on my lap. Sasuke was blushing a deep red before taking the stick and shoving in his pocket to hide the evidence. "Sorry teme, but it was really funny how even a fox could see how emo you are." Naruto said in a mocking tone, still chuckling a bit.

"Whatever, stupid dobe!" He yelled in embarrassment, crossing his arms. Naruto stuck his tongue out at him.

A few hours later...

It was about noon and the 3 boys had been chatting for hours in the woods when Sasuke's stomach started to growl, him having the least experience with starving. He asked if Naruto could run him out of the forest so he could get some lunch and the perky blonde agreed, much to the displeasure of the 3 foxes sleeping on the blondes lap. He was gone in a flash and returned the same way, except without an angry emo in his grasp. Shikamaru took notice of how his running looked from an outside perspective.

Shikamaru POV

'When he went to drop off Sasuke, he left in a flash of yellow and returned the same, yes it was a flash of yellow and orange considering his clothes, but his sunshine yellow hair made an unmistakable flash.' I pondered as Naruto returned to his pile of foxes.

'And during the 3rd ninja war the Yondaime Hokage was nicknamed the yellow flash for his incredible speeds that "left nothing but a flash".' I continued analyzing 'Naruto has the ridiculous speed, and his spikey hair is the same bright yellow and logic defying in its spikes, I thought the spikes were an exaggeration on the hokage monument. Maybe not, but the Yondaime died-' my eyes went wide. 'THE YONDAIME DIED ON THE DAY OF THE KYUUBI ATTACK!' I yelled in my own head.

Naruto looked at me confused, which led me to believe I accidentally whispered it out loud.

"U-Umm, Naruto, are you the Yondaime's son?" I asked hesitantly, not wanting to come off as rude.

Naruto chuckled a bit before answering, "Well I guess I should've known, you never can keep a secret from a Nara for long" he said in a slightly sad tone while staring at the grass.

"W-Wait, if your the Yondaime's son, why aren't you a Namikaze?" I stuttered out, still rather frazzled by this completely confusing information that I had confirmed.

"Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, but the Sandaime never let me use the second half, I'm the last Namikaze and my father had many enemies."Naruto said, brutally honest but not going so far as to answer more than one question.

"So if you're an Uzumaki too, does that mean your mom was from Uzushio?" I asked, wishing I had a pen and paper.

"My mom was from Uzushio, but she moved to Konoha when she was young because of a burden she carried." Naruto answered, leaving me with more questions.