Bombs Away (Naruto Fanfiction)

Rewritten: Chapter 3

Chapter 3: CONFUSION

----------------------------------

Naruto gave the man a calm smile at this display of affection and nodded.

"Of course, Iruka-sensei," Iruka let go of the boy's shoulder and nodded his head towards the direction of the window.

"Now, you'd better get back to your mother before it gets late. I wouldn't want Kushina-san on my heels if I were you," Iruka and Naruto both shuddered at the thought of the woman when she was angry, her long red hair split into nine directions as fire burned in her eyes.

"Of course, sensei. I'll see you tomorrow," Naruto waved a half hearted goodbye at his teacher before leaving, his questions still unanswered. He passed through the streets, the same praising stares of the villagers lingering on him from this morning. Choruses of 'good luck tomorrow, Naruto-sama' and 'good evening, Naruto-sama' barely register in his ears as he sped past, eager to just escape from them. He passed, half way from home as the building sign beside him caught his attention. "Perhaps I can find information in the archives?" his habit of speaking his thoughts out loud catching him off guard as he heard how desperate his voice sounded.

'Was I always this desperate sounding? why am I so caught up on finding this...brother of mine?' his thoughts left him confused and with more questions than answers, 'Its probably some stupid dream that I'm just overthinking.' he left out a low growl and slapped himself lightly. 'Damn it Naruto, get yourself together, you have the graduation test tomorrow and other things to worry about,' he thought, frustrated by his state of mind. He glanced upwards at the sky, only to be met with the pale moon, 'Crap, Kushina is going to kill me.' without a second thought he sprinted past the library and Konoha archives and toward the place he called home for the past few years.

"AND WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN YOUNG MAN!?" Yelled Kushina "IS LATE AND YOU HAVE YOUR GRADUATION DAY TOMORROW!" Naruto cringed at her booming, thunderous voice, sure that the whole village could hear her. He always wondered how she got her voice that loud, perhaps she enhanced it with chakra? Or maybe it was an Uzumaki thing that just ran in their blood, maybe even a mixture of both.

"I was at the library studying," he lied smoothly, giving her the innocent look that he had perfected over his history of skipping class to go and draw down by the few large ponds that Konoha had in the training grounds. He never knew where his passion for creating and bringing his visions to life came from, it was as if it was just instinct, something he had to do. Kushina seemed to calm down at the answer and Naruto's calm and collected nature.

"Oh, that's great! You're just like your father," she smiled "always wanting to be prepared." Naruto looked at the ground awkwardly and just nodded, he felt the slightest bit of guilt but couldn't bring himself to tell her about the dreams, the same nagging feeling from earlier tugging at him from the back of his mind and stopping him from telling the people he should trust. He could trust them, right? "Well, speaking of being just like your father, you've both missed dinners, come and I'll heat up some left over for you," her tone was warm and the air around he was welcoming but Naruto couldn't help but feel so out of place, as I he was in the wrong place and invading in someone else's life.

"It's alright, I'm not really hungry. I might go to bed early today and get up early for the exams tomorrow," Naruto forced the answer out along with a smile, wanting nothing more than to go to sleep in hopes of seeing the blonde teen from before. Slight worry filled her warm eyes but she shook it off and nodded her head in agreement.

"Alright, well it's way past your bedtime anyways and you do need to be rested and strong so you can pass the exams," she said smiling as she ushered him up the stairs and towards his bedroom. He complied and went in. Kushina smiled at him before turning to leave and let Naruto get prepared for the night. "I love you, Naruto, and I just want you to know that your father and I are proud of you, we always will be," Kushina let her heart spill out as she spoke to the blonde.

"Thanks...Mum," he said after a small pause, the guilt from earlier returning tenfold. Kushina gave him a comforting smile before leaving the room, shutting the door softly behind her. Naruto collapsed on the bed, exhausted by the turn of events and stress of the upcoming exams pressing against the forefront of his mind. Sleep took him as soon as he covered himself with the soft orange blanket, a gift from Kushina that he'd gotten on his eleventh birthday.