Naruto 1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing so don't sue, it'd be kinda pointless if you did... I only have like 60 bucks to my name lol**

**Italics are people's thoughts I'm mainly doing this story as a favor to a friend, I hope she likes it and it makes her squeal like a little school girl... that sounded wrong somehow... oh well ON WITH THE STORY!**

**Oh! btw I haven't really watched or read any Naruto recently and I never even got close to finishing it (if it is finished cause truthfully I have no clue) so some facts may be wrong but hopefully everything I google will turn out to be correct :D**

**This has been reuploaded after my AWESOME new Beta-Reader Himitsu-Ojou looked over it, She did an excellent job :)**  
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Naruto awoke suddenly to a loud noise and jumped out of bed in a rush to see what was happening, only to groan when he saw all the noise was being made by his alarm clock.

He looked at the time he set it at the previous night. 6:30 A.M. it read, which only caused Naruto to groan louder than before. He knew the fact that his alarm clock was set so early today was because it was the first day of school and that summer vacation had officially ended.

Naruto sighed and walked to his bathroom with slumped shoulders to start getting ready for school.

Fifteen minutes later, Naruto was showered, dressed and ready to go to school, but seeing as it was still early, he decided to make some breakfast for himself.

He went into the kitchen after putting his backpack, that he had packed yesterday with all the supplies he might need, down by the door. As he went to open the fridge, he saw a note on the door.

He took it out from underneath the magnet holding it in place and read it,

"Dear sweetheart,

Your father and I had another business meeting to go to early this morning, so we'll be gone for about 2 weeks. We left some money on the counter for you and the number of the hotel we'll be staying in is on the bottom of the note if you can't reach us by our cellphones. Love you darling; see you when we get back.

Love, Mom."

He sighed after he read the note and put it on the counter next to the money they left for him. He opened the fridge to see that he only had two eggs, some leftover ramen noddles and a carton of orange juice left, but he just shrugged and took it all out and started to prepare his meal.

"Reminder to self, go to the market after school buy more food." With that he sat down and ate. By the time he had finished eating and cleaning up after himself, it was already 7:10 A.M. and school was going to start in twenty-five minutes.

He got his backpack and his keys, and locked up as he went out through the door. He got to school with 7 minutes to spare and used it to go get his schedule from the office.

He took a quick glance at it and saw his first class was history, he sighed and made his way to the class early. He hoped that he could sit in the back and maybe sneak a nap.

When Naruto got to his class, he went all the way in the back, which was the furthest away from the teacher's desk. The second he got situated in his seat, he put his head down and tried to take a nap before the bell rang.

He heard the bell ring and other students move around in the classroom and take their seats. He heard someone move into the chair next to him and scoff and say something that sounded like 'lazyass' before being quiet.

Naruto ignored it and only lifted his head when he heard the teacher ask for everyone's attention. The teacher handed out a syllabus for the class along with a paper he asked the class to have their parents sign.

Naruto looked over the syllabus before putting it in his folder and sighed when he got the paper he needed to get signed, he would have to remember to forged his father's signature after going home after getting the groceries.

"So much to do today..." he mumbled to himself.

He heard another scoff from next to him and he looked over to see it was Sasuke Uchiha. The boy had raven black hair that he styled in spikes; onyx eyes that constantly glared at others and pale smooth skin that would have made him look sickly if he did not have a body people could tell was fit from miles away.

At the moment, he was glaring at Naruto as if he was an insect that needed to be squished, as he always did. Naruto wouldn't have taken it personally, because he knew Sasuke practically hated everyone, if a couple years back the pale boy had not told Naruto that he disposed him with a passion and wanted to, and I quote, "Beat your head against a fucking wall till your own mother wouldn't recognize you."

The comment had hurt the blonde boy, but not in the way the cold-hearted boy would expect. Naruto's only thought when he heard the threat was that his mother probably didn't recognize him now, being away like she always was.

Needless to say, Naruto had a special place in Sasuke's hatred for the world, he just wasn't sure why, though if he did know he might laugh. Sasuke hated him because the blond boy didn't seem to take anything seriously and he sill got top grades.

The raven haired boy thought that Naruto was just an idiot who had others do his work for him. He thought Naruto got by on his money- how wrong he was.

Nothing exciting happened after the first class, Naruto only got more slips to forge signatures on and more reminders to set up home work schedules but that was it.

He went straight to the grocery store after school instead of hanging back and talking to some of his friends as he usually would. He was just upset and feeling low today when he saw his parents were not home again, even for his first day of school and just wanted to go home and sleep some more.

As he was leaving the grocery store and heading toward home, a poster he had not seen before caught his eye. As he took a closer look he discovered it was a poster advertising a karate school.

He looked at the address and saw it was only down the street from his house. The more the blond boy thought about it, the more he was convincing himself to go and study there.

He didn't know why, but the idea of learning martial arts held a great interest to him and he had nothing else to do after school when his homework was completed, so he decided to go check the place out at the very least. He read the poster for the information of when the dojo was open and what classes were available at what times.

When he had everything memorized he set off for home, thinking of when he should visit the dojo.

Hours later found Naruto lying in bed, still thinking about the dojo and arguing with himself if he should just go now. After a good ten minutes he hopped out of bed and grabbed his house keys thinking, 'To hell with it, might as well go today.'

When he arrived at the dojo, he immediately was noticed by a sensei. After a short walk with the sensei, whom he discovered was the master of the dojo, to his office, Naruto asked about joining.

"Well, I'd be glad to get you started, the only problem is that you'd be behind by a couple of months and I don't know if you could or would want to catch up. Plus this dojo only teaches ninjustu, I hope you're fine with that," the senesi said.

He was a tall man with long thick gray hair that reached down to his knees, a metal headband covering his forehead, and two red lines on his face going from his corner of his eyes to his chin.

The master was very laid-back as he spoke to Naruto, sitting down on a comfy looking chair with his feet on his desk and his arms behind his head.

"I'd like to join anyway, Sensei." The master nodded then jumped up and offered his hand the to boy.

"Welcome to Josei No Nakka Kakko Yoi Sensei Dojo! I'm Jiraiya, the main Sensei."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the name and muttered 'Pervert,' under his breath as he shook hands with the tall man. He was starting to rethink the whole idea, wondering how he missed that name on the poster.

The master showed Naruto around the dojo and introduced him to all the other sensei before going and getting him his Shinobi Shozuku and told him the times for beginner's class before finally introducing him to the Sensei he would be learning under.

"This is Iruka Umino, he will be your Sensei until he deems you fit to go onto higher classes."

Iruka told Naruto what he usually taught his class and what they had already learned. Jiraiya told Naruto he could leave after his talk with Iruka then went back to his office.

After a few more minutes of Iruka telling him how his first month was going to be like in the class so he could catch up with everyone else, he let the boy leave.

Naruto went home feeling better than he had when he woke up this morning, even if he did think the master of the dojo was a pervert. The dojo looked serious but fun.

**So there you have it, I know it kinda sucks but hey I'm doing my best! GIVE ME A BREAK! lol jk hope you like it, Review to let me know :D**

**"Josei No Nakka Kakko Yoi Sensei: means "Good Looking Sensei Inside Ladies" XD I couldn't help it**

**sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes that weren't corrected :) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Sorry this took so long but I finally got this out. I meant to make it longer originally but I decided to just cut it in half and get this chapter out quicker. **

**WARNING! this chapter is pretty sad and messed up but please don't hate me, my muse made me do it! also the next one is going to be sad as well, though I'm not sure if it'll end on a sad note like this one. **

**okay I hope you all enjoy the chapter and I'd like to thank everyone for reading, alerting and favoriting this story it means a lot to mean and makes me happy to know you like it so far, but you know what makes me SUPER DUPER happy? REVIEWS! SO REVIEW :D**

It had been a month since Naruto had first gone to the dojo. A month since the start of the new school year. A month since he started setting his alarm for 5:30 A.M. A month since he had practiced his ninjustu. And also a month since his parents had contacted him other than to email him to tell him that he better be doing well in school. But he was determined not to let that get him down.

His parents had finally returned home and he was happy for that. He told himself that his parents loved him; they were just hard on him because they had high expectations and they knew he was smart enough and strong enough to take it.

So with that in mind he got out of bed at the usual time 5:30 and made his way to the kitchen.

Naruto went about making breakfast for him and his parents, who he knew also got up early. He was glad they were home and wanted to do something nice for them, while hoping he would get some praise for his good deed as well- he rarely ever got any praise from his mother and father and did anything he could think of most the time to try and earn it.

He started to take out six eggs and a packet of bacon along with toast, butter and jam. Naruto set out three plates, forks, knifes and glasses. He took out orange juice for himself and started the coffee maker for his parents when they got up. Then, he put the toast in a plate with the jam and butter on the table and got started on making the eggs and bacon.

It was nearing 6 A.M. when breakfast and the coffee was ready and he could hear his parents getting up and washing up in the restroom before coming out to the kitchen.

His father, Katashi, was the first one to come out to the kitchen and see the the table set and the coffee hot. He looked over to Naruto as he got his coffee and gave him a small nod and grunt to show his thanks before sitting down to eat.

Naruto's face showed nothing of what he was feelings as he grabbed another mug for his mother and filled her plate for her before she came out, but on the inside he was jumping for joy because he had gotten his father's attention.

As he sat down to eat, he let a small smile grace his features. "Would you like the morning paper, father?"

His father merely looked at him and gave a small nod. Naruto quickly got out of his chair to go down the hallway that led to the front door. He opened the door to see the paper on the doorstep; he picked it up and returned it to his father. "Here you are, Sir."

His Father said a mumbled 'thank you' and began reading in silence. Naruto returned to his food.

A few minutes later, just as Naruto was finishing up his breakfast, his mother, Hisoka, came out of the washroom. She went to the counter, poured herself a cup of coffee, and sat done to eat the food set out in front of her, never even acknowledging her son once. She merely took out her phone and started typing on it quickly.

As soon as she finished her meal, she got up and put some coffee in a thermos. "I'm going into the office early today, I'll be back by dinner time. Oh, Katashi, the papers you needed were emailed to you this morning."

Her husband merely grunted in response. Naruto, having already finished eating, cleaned up the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher as his mother basically ignored him and got ready to leave.

Naruto went to his room to get his training gear, so he could practice before going to school.

He and his mother went to leave the house at the same time when his mother finally looked at him in the hallway before reaching the door. "Where are you going, sweetie? School doesn't start for another hour."

"Oh, I know, I'm going to go practice my ninjustu , before school." Naruto replied.

"Ninjustu? What in the world is that and why are you practicing it?" Naruto, whose face had had a smile previously, when his mother had shown interest in his life, now quickly faded when he heard the tone his other had asked the question in.

"It's like karate, I really like it and its fun to do, plus it keeps me in shape and all the teachers there are very kind." Naruto felt like he was defending himself with his answer instead of simply giving a reason why he enjoyed to do ninjustu. Hisoka's face only scrunched up in a scowl.

"So it has nothing to do with school or grades?" Her voice was eerily calm.

Naruto took a big gulp before answering, "No, Ma'am."

"Does it help you in anyway get into a good university or get a successful career?"

"N-no, Ma'am." Naruto started to fell the familiar feeling of fear going up and down his spine. He knew already that his mother was upset, even if her face was completely blank at the moment.

Naruto quickly looked to his father to see if he would help him, maybe defend him saying that he could use the excise. What he saw made his stomach drop as it filled with dread. His father was looking at him with his face full of remorse.

His father wouldn't help.

That was the last thought Naruto had before he felt his mother's fist hit his stomach. Naruto dropped to his knees in pain, as his mother went into the kitchen.

"And why, need I ask, are you learning some silly karate moves if it will not benefit your future?"

"Please, ma'am, I enjoy it, its a fun hobby, it doesn't get in the way of my studies, I swear!" Naruto practically sobbed, his eyes wide open, silently begging not to be hit again. To not be punished.

All that he heard in response was his mother's four inch heels clicking on the tile floor as they made their way toward him. He saw his mother's feet in front of him and looked up.

The sight of his mother holding a horse whip in her hand made him sob even harder, knowing now without a doubt that he would not get out of punishment until his mother had deemed that he had learned his lesson.

"You shouldn't be focusing on anything other than your studies! Do you want to flunk out of school and end up a bum because you wanted to be a karate star? HUH? ANSWER ME!" She struck him with the whip on his back as hard as she could, once, twice, three times before Naruto finally spoke up.

"No ma'am I don't, I promise I'll only focus on my studies!" Naruto whimpered pathetically.

His mother only whacked him seven more times just as hard in quick secessions. She was panting heavily after she was done, her hair out of place and her eyes colder than before.

She looked down at her crying and bleeding son, her expression softening. "Sweetheart don't cry," she said as she knelt down. "I'm so sorry that I hit you, but you needed to understand what you did wrong and receive your punishment. You need forget about karate and only focus on your school work."

She softly stroked his hair back out of his face. "Come here darling, lets go get some medicine for your cuts, then you should go rest before going to school. Your father will wake you up and drive you to school, won't you dear?"

"Yes, of course." Her husband replied from behind her

Naruto only whimpered and nodded weakly in agreement, too weak from his wounds both physically and emotionally to do anything else. His father picked him up and carried him to his room and putting him down stiffly when they reached their destination.

His mother put cream on the cuts the whip had given him and gave him an Advil for the pain before sitting next to him in bed, running her hand through his hair until he went back to sleep.

Naruto's last thoughts before he drifted off into sleep was that he wished his mother would always be this kind. He was almost glad for all the beatings he got because at least after he was punished, his mother was always kind and loving.

**Sorry if there were any spelling or grammar mistakes I didn't fix.**

**Once again thanks to my new awesome beta reader Himitsu-Ojuo for looking it over and fixing up some things, She is awesome :)  
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	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything**

**I know I told some of you I would have this out in one week, sorry for being a bit behind schedule, I would like to thank my beta reader for fixing up the chapter so there should be no mistakes so there is sorry **

Naruto was woken up by his father and driven to school by him as well, all in silence. His father stopped the car in front of the school with four minutes to spare. Just as Naruto was about to get out of the car, he felt his father's hand rest on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry..." Naruto instantly knew he wasn't just talking about this morning.

"It's ok, I-," His father cut him off.

"NO! It is NOT okay! I should stand up for you more, but I-I can't and I...I'm sorry...You deserve a better father, just know that I love you and I AM proud of you!" By now both males' eyes were filled with tears. Naruto's father had never said anything like this before, he usually never spoke more than five words unless it had to deal with work, and he had never heard the man raise his voice. Naruto was speechless for a moment.

"Thank- thank you dad, I love you too." Naruto, not being able to contain his feelings anymore, hugged his father with all his strength, trying to convey just how much his father's words meant to him. After a small hesitation, he felt his father hug him back if a bit stiffly, the man not used to showing such affection.

They broke apart after a minute, no longer caring if Naruto was going to be late. "Does that ninjustu thing mean a lot to you?" Naruto slowly nodded, not looking his father in the eyes. "Okay then, I'll help you continue going to classes and keep it from your mother." Naruto snapped his head up to looked at his father, shocked.

"D-d-do you really mean it? You'll really help me?" Naruto wasn't sure if he was happy or not, he couldn't get over the shock.

"Yes... I know I'm a bad father, I won't deny it. If I can't stop your mother the least I can do is keep you away from her and help you do something you like." It wasn't the most emotionally thing a person could have said and it wasn't the best thing that his father could have done for him but Naruto was ecstatic all the same.

"Th-Thanks dad..." Naruto didn't know what else to say. There was an awkward pause before Naruto's father cleared his throat.

"You should get to class, don't want you to be too late for class." Naruto nodded and waited as his father took out a pen and paper from the glove department in the car and wrote him a note, to excuse him from being tardy.

Naruto was let into class with an excuse. As he was about to sit down in his seat, the seat was kicked to the side, Naruto falling on his back hard as a result, making Naruto hiss in pain as his wounds stung painfully.

"Don't be such a fucking baby," he heard someone mutter to him. He looked to the side and saw that it was Sasuke. Naruto's eyes filled with tears from the pain as he stood up and moved his seat back to its proper place, taking his seat. Sasuke unfortunately saw the blonde boy's eyes and laughed. "What a fucking cry baby, what are you going to do, go cry to mommy?" Sasuke said in a mocking baby tone then chuckled darkly.

Naruo said nothing back. Naruto didn't even look at Sasuke after he had taken his seat. The only evidence that Naruto had even heard the cruel boy was when he flinched at the mention of his mother.

The rest of Naruto's day went fine; he went to all his classes on time and talked briefly to his friends.

At lunch, Naruto's back had started to beat in a constant dull ache. He got his lunch and sat down at the table he usually does with his friends. Seeing that he was the first person there, he waited for the rest of his group.

Kiba Inuzuka came up behind Naruto and jumped on his back, making Naruto flinch and almost yelp out loud; stiffening in pain. Kiba instantly noticed his friend's discomfort and got off of him.

"Hey are you ok Uzumaki?" Naruto took a deep breath and released it before nodding.

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little sore from karate practice," Naruto said slightly breathless. Kiba stared at his friend for a little longer, before shrugging and sitting down next to him

Kiba looked around carefully, making sure no teachers were near before opening his jacket and little dog's head stuck out.

"Come on out Akamaru, its all clear." The small white dog jumped out of Kiba's jacket onto the table; Naruto barely blinked, having become used to Kiba bringing his puppy, Akamaru, to school. Kiba had found Akamaru, a few weeks after spring vacation, when he and Naruto were walking to the arcade.

-Flashback-

Kiba and Naruto were on their way to the arcade on a cloudy Saturday afternoon. They were joking around, shoving each other around, playfully each saying they were the better videogame player. As they passed an alleyway, they both heard a weak high-pitched whine. Naruto moved on, subtly moving a bit faster than before, the sound reminding him of himself when his mother beat him, while Kiba stopped to see what made the noise.

Naruto had walked eight steps before noticing his friend was no longer by his side. He looked back and saw Kiba kneeled down lowly whispering to something hidden in the shadows of a trashcan.

As Naruto approached, he heard what Kiba was saying. "Come on out little fella, no ones gonna hurt you. No need to be afraid, come here."

"What is-," Naruto was cut off before he could get his sentence out.

"Shh!" Kiba turned to Naruto for a quick second, signaling him to stay quiet then went back to coaxing whatever was behind the trashcan.

After a few minutes, Naruto was getting impatient; he was only allowed out until 5:30 when his mother was home and he didn't want to waste his time here, watching his friend try to get whatever the hell it was out of the shadows.

Just when he was about to tell Kiba he was going to leave, he saw a small white fur ball come towards Kiba's out stretched hand. Naruto saw Kiba's face held a soft smile as he stared at the small puppy.

"You're a good boy aren't cha." With that, Kiba picked him up and announced that he was keeping him.

-Flashback End-

"Isn't Akumaru getting too big for you jacket?" Naruto asked before taking a bite of his burger. Naruto looked over and saw his friend giving his dog a piece of meat from his own burger.

"Nope. He still fits perfectly." Kiba said with a happy smile.

"Hey guys, sorry we're late, our teacher made us say after class for a while." Kiba and Naruto turned towards the voice to see Sakura, Shikamaru and Hinata all behind them with their lunch.

Naruto usually had class with them, but this year he ended up in different periods, only having one or two classes with them. The class they had come from was AP Satistics, a class Naruto had earlier in the day. Out of the entire group, only Kiba didn't have advanced classes, and after him came Shikamaru, who only had two advanced classes and one honors class because he was too lazy to work harder.

Even though most of the group was smart none of them ever really acted like it. Naruto let his mask of indifference fall a bit around his friends and was complete goofball, Shikamaru was laid back, with a devil may care attitude, Hinata wasn't as shy around her friends as everyone else, Sakura didn't act like a stuck up know-it-all and messed around joking with the boys and girl, and Kiba let his friends see his softer side, especially when it came to his new dog, which boh the girls adored.

Time flew by for Naruto during lunch, he was having so much fun just hanging out and talking to his friends. Just as everyone was getting up to throw away their left over food, Sasuke walked by just as Naruto stood. Sasuke slammed hard into Naruto's back as he passed, making Naruto cry out in pain as his sore back was hit and he fell into the table's edge on his stomach.

Needless to say, Naruto's good mood lessened after that. He told his friends that he landed hard on his stomach to explain why he yelled in pain. He knew by the look on their faces that they didn't completely believe him, but decided to let it go and head to class.

Naruto loved and hated that he had such attentive friends sometimes. They could always tell when he was lying, all of them, no matter how small the lie. It made him feel loved, but at the same time he hated having to lie to his friends all the time.

As school let out, he said bye to all his friends and started heading home. They all saw that he was tired and let him leave, not pressuring him to tell them what was wrong.

Naruto stopped by the dojo on his way home, knowing his parents wouldn't be back yet. He had been making great progress on his ninjutsu over the past month, and he had finally caught up with the rest of the class. He felt so at peace when he was practing that it came naturally to him.

Stangely over the month, he had also become good friends with the pervert master of the dojo. When the old man wasn't talking about women, he was a fun guy to talk to, which was why Naruto was going over to the dojo, even though he had no lessons today on a Tuesday.

He entered the dojo and headed start for the master sensei's office, giving little waves and smiles to other students he had gotten to know over the month he had been practicing at the dojo. Naruto walked in the office to see that the matser was reading a porno.

"Hey Pervy Sensei!" Naruto said cheerfully, starling the man, and making him jump from his seat. Naruto chuckled as he took his seat across from the older man. That was the third time he had done that and it never got old.

Jiryra growled when he saw who had disturbed him, "Damn it, Naruto, I told you to knock before you come in here and I told you to stop calling me that!" Naruto only laughed harder.

"I'll stop calling you Pervy Sensei the day you stop being a pervert, plus, its fun sneaking up on you." Naruto said with a cheeky smile.

Jirya, against his will, felt his lips curve up into a weary smile. Even though Naruto was extremely annoying when he wanted to be, the man could tell he was troubled and had a soft spot for him.

Jiryra only muttered a weak, "Shut up" before sitting down and talking to Naruto about their day and anything else they thought of as they usually did every Tuesday and Thursday when Naruto had no classes.

Naruto ended up staying with the master sensei talking for two hours, eventually getting around to getting some sandwiches to eat as they talked.

As Naruto was leaving, he felt the older man put a hand on his shoulder. Naruto turned around to look up at him to see an ointment in his hands. "Put this on your back, it should make it less sore and heal faster." He saw Naruto stammer before trying to say something.

"You don't have to tell me what happened to your back or how you got it, just make sure to apply the ointment on it every four hours until it heals." With that the man led him out of the dojo and said he would see him later.

Naruto was in shock, he didn't think the old pervert would be able to tell that he was injured; he didn't think he let any signs of discomfort show. Jiryra was a better ninja then he gave him credit for, that was for sure.

**READ AND REVIEW! DO IT! I COMMAND YOU TO!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I am VERY SORRY about the time it took to get this up, I got lazy... SORRY! but I hope this makes up for it a little lol, also thank you to everyone who reviewed, you guys make my day and I promise to try harder at updating especially since I have no excuses lol **

**Once again a HUGE THANK YOU to my AMAZINGLY AWESOME beta Himitsu-Ojou!**

It's been three weeks since Naruto had his talk with his father, three weeks since his mother had come home, three weeks since his mother had beat him for taking karate lessons, three weeks since he had properly talked with Jiraiya and it had been three weeks since he had started to slowly fuck up in his ninjitsu, even with his father's hesitant and minor support and help.

Naruto wasn't complain though, because his father had stopped at least a third of the usual beating by distracting his mother or making sure that his wife was happy and in a good mood. Sadly, it seemed no matter how happy or preoccupied she was, she still was able to punish her son for almost anything. Naruto concluded that his mother just enjoyed hurting him. Why, he didn't know; he just knew such a thought made his heart hurt.

Naruto was sitting at a table with his lunch, more poking and playing with the food rather than eating it. It was always the same, whenever his mother came he was always so happy at first, anxious for her return, but it only took a short while for him to be thrown back into reality, with either a smack on the face or harsh words spat at him.

Naruto did his best to stay optimistic, but after so many years of having his hopes shattered and his dreams ripped apart, it was difficult to believe his mother would stop her abuse.

_'No!'_ Naruto thought,_ 'Dad changed; he started to care after so long, mom can love me too. Its possible! its possible...'_

"HEY!"

Naruto jumped, his thoughts momentarily forgotten in exchange for the amount of pain he felt in his shoulders which were now home to Sakura, who he often thought of as his sister, had jumped on him from behind.

"Hey pinky, mind getting off me?" Sakura puffed her cheeks out.

"Humph! Don't call me that! How many times do I have to tell you that!" Sakura got off and sat down next to her friend, but not before smacking him on the back of his head.

"Ow!" Naruto whined, "Jeez you don't have to hit me!"

"Obviously, I do, if you still haven't learned not to call me that after all these years."

Naruto opened his mouth to retort, but he was stopped by a hand over his mouth.

"Okay, that's enough you two. It's to early in the year for you guy to already be at each others throats." Shikamaru said as he took his hand off Naruto's mouth. He had brought Sakura's lunch for her, which was why it had taken him longer to get there than the pink haired girl. The two had been so involved in their argument that they had not noticed the quiet boy put down his and Sakura's trays on the table before he interrupted them.

After the dark haired boy sat down and started eating, Naruto noticed something. "Hey, where's Hinata?Talking to the teacher?"

"No, she went to the library to look for a new book to put in her vast collection of books she's read."

"Oh, cool. I have to ask her for a good book to read. I've been bored at home." Shikamaru said.

Your always bored, " The pink haired girl stated. Shikamaru only nodded in agreement, knowing that what she said was true.

"Well, if Hinata is in the library, that explains what's taking Kiba so long to get here." His friends chuckled knowingly.

Kiba and Hinanta had to be the most obvious and oblivious people in the world to not figure out that they had crushes on each other and yet are so obvious to everyone else.

"When do you think they'll start dating?" Sakura asked the table.

"Whenever Kiba finally gets the courage to ask Hinata out. Hinata's way too shy to take the first step."

"True..." Sakura suddenly smacked Naruto on the head again out of nowhere.

"OWW! What was that for?" Naruto cried out.

"Make Kiba make a move already!"

"Why did you have to hit me? You could have just said so!"

"Cause I like hitting you, and that seems the only way for you to understand anything!"

"Why tell me? Shika hangs out with him just as much as me!"

"Because Shika too much of a lazy ass to do anything."

"That's not a reason!"

"Of course it is."

"Bitch," Naruto muttered.

"BAKA!" No one around was surprised when they heard a loud smack followed by a shout of pain.

Naruto made his way to the dojo as he was recently doing nowadays, with slumped shoulders and a depressed air surrounding him. It was becoming his usual state, because he knew that he was gradually failing everything he was being taught. And he knew why.

Ever since his mother had returned, he could not concentrate as he used to. In fact, the first beating he had gotten for doing ninjutsu was not the last. His mother believed for him to truly understand his punishment he had been getting a regular beating every three days since the first day of her return.

Because of this he had started to gain more bruises and cuts making him constantly sore and hurt, making it difficult to actually preform his best in class. Not to mention on top of all his mother's planned punishments, she had caught him a few times practicing his ninjutsu, so he was sometimes having trouble doing some moves without flinching or freezing half way. His Sensei was baffled by his transformation, going from a top student prospect, maybe even a master of the art, to becoming one of the worst in the whole dojo. Even the children's class was looking better than him and that was making Naruto more upset with himself and his performance.

At this point Naruto was at a loss at what to do. He loved ninjutsu but every time he tried to practice he just seemed to get more and more traumatized with flashbacks of his mother going at him with her whipping stick. It was becoming harder and harder to resist having a break down. The only reason he held strong was because he feared that if he let himself crack and let out even a fraction of his emotions, he would not be able to build up his walls again. He was afraid that if he let himself cry and pity himself over his life, he would not find the will to stop and would just drown in his despair. So he shouldered on through it, making sure to keep his happy and carefree facade up around his friends.

Naruto was not the only one wondering what to do about his predicament and thankfully others were more successful at coming up with a solution for the blond boy. In fact, both his sensei and Jiraiya were waiting for him to enter the dojo to tell him of their plan to help him with his difficulties in class.

The second Naruto walked through the doors of the school, he was ambushed by his two sensei.

"Naruto, just who we were looking for."

"We've noticed that your performance in class has started to decrease and its has been become a worry of both mine and Jiraiya's."

"Basically, you've started to suck at the art and we know you have enough natural talent to become a master."

"So we've decided take a more personal interest for that very reason."

"We want to see what we did when you first joined, and we think it might be because you're lazy, so we're assigning you a tutor to make sure you practice and stop slacking off."

"He will also help you with any techniques you are having any problems grasping."

"And here he is," Jiraiya went and grabbed the dojo's current best student and brought him over, having already explained to him that he would be taking on a pupil of his own to prove that he had master the martial art. "Naruto meet your new tutor, Sasuke."

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw that his new tutor was in fact his classmate, the very one who on numerous occasions expressed his hatred for him. Sasuke's only reaction was his scowl deepening and his eyes narrowing.

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A NEW CHAPTER FINALLY! lol I thought I would update a new one for my birthday as a treat, I will eventually reupload this after my beta checks it because I'm sure I misspelled names all over the place so please forgive those as well as all the other mistakes you find**

**anyway I wanted to actually get it up today so aren't you all lucky lol well start reading I guess**

**New AN: Like I said this is the reuploaded version with all the corrections**** THANK YOU MAGGIE! The next chapter shold be up in like half an hour so watch for it :)**

Naruto was doing horribly, even worse then usual. Every time he tried to do better and push away his mother's voice away, his eyes would drift over towards the raven-haired boy sitting in the corner and his mother's shrill voice would resound in his head ten times worse then usual.

Needless to say, Naruto's sensei weren't happy with the new development. Jiraiya had finally sent for Sasuke to his office after two weeks of no progress whatsoever.

"What's going on, Sasuke? You're my best student, you should be able to help others learn if you want to get to the next level." Jiraiya started before Sasuke could even take his seat. "Is it really so hard to help another student fix his posture or show him his mistakes? Why is he even worse than before?"

Sasuke fumed on the inside, 'Stupid Uzumaki. getting me in trouble because he can't take anything seriously. Well forget it, I'm not taking the blame for this.'

"Its not my fault. I show him the stance or the exercise and half way through it, he stumbles. It's like he's doing it on purpose. I wouldn't be surprised if he was..." Sasuke grumbled. He didn't understand why the blond idiot wasn't the one getting a lecture for his silly mistakes.

Jiraiya sighed. He knew about the random sudden stumbles Naruto had been having, Iruka had reported the same thing, except his was with concern, not suspicion. "I don't think Naruto is doing it for attention."

Before he could continue, Sasuke's patience wore out.

Sasuke yelled, "Why not? Who stumbles that much genuinely? Of course he's doing it for attention, look at how much he's gotten already!"

"Silence!" Jiraiya punched his desk, cutting off the boy. "As I was saying, I don't believe he's doing it on purpose for attention. He was already getting it for his amazing progress over the last month. Didn't you even question why we bothered to get him a tutor? It's because Iruka and I agree that he's got a natural talent for this. He was doing great and then one day he comes in a bit down and his trips and unsteady balance appears. I made you his tutor for a reason, and it wasn't because you're our best student. It's because you are the same age, I want you to figure out what's blocking him from advancing."

As the older man was talking, Sasuke's frown got more and more pronounced until he was full-blown scowling at the end. He hated the blond fool, he didn't want to get to know him and get all buddy-buddy. He didn't even think he could fake it. But it didn't seem like he was being given a choice so he merely nodded.

"Good, I'm worried about that kid. He isn't one for half-assed efforts." At this Sasuke couldn't help but snort in disbelief. "What you think he's lazy?"

"Yes. I go to school with him and he never does anything. I'm sure he gets by just using his money and people around him. All he ever seems to do is lay around and he never takes any class seriously, so excuse me for not believing he is a dedicated student."

Jiraiya sat quietly through the raven-haired boy's rant, letting him get what he wanted to say out before answering him.

"Is that so? Because the boy I've gotten to know is the one that came here every day to learn more about ninjustsu, and even if he had homework, he would just do it all here before and after his lesson. Hell, he was here even when he didn't have a lesson to ask questions about the art. He was passionate, then all of a sudden, he comes in here with wounds on his back and his passion is sucked out? That doesn't add up and I want to know what is holding him back because he isn't a slacker. Not the kid I've seen."

Sasuke couldn't believe they were talking about the same person. 'Uzumaki? Study? No way. He probably did it so he would look like a good kid, then got bored of that act and went back to goofing off. Even if he was serious about this whole thing, he obviously wasn't anymore, so why should he get all this attention? Whatever, I'll just shove him around so hard that he'll have to start taking this seriously and improve so I can get this over with.'

If Naruto only knew what was coming for him in his new tutor, he probably would have ran the other way in fear. His lessons with the foul-tempered boy were going to get ten times worse because of Jiraiya's lecture. The old man had unwittingly angered Sasuke by implying that his teaching was inadequate.

The raven haired boy wouldn't rest until the blond was one of the best in that dojo. If he couldn't make Naruto passionate about the art like Jiraiya wanted, oh well. You didn't need passion to learn all the techniques; if anything, he would make him a ninjustu robot.

And so began the new regime of Naruto's training. If he didn't die before the end of it, he would be a ninjustsu master.

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW it makes me happy :D and if you don't sasuke will death glare you! AGAIN! lol Seriously though if you didn't review before do it now :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Next chapter as promised :) not too much happening in this one but don't worry the more interesting stuff is coming, you just have to be a bit patient**

**The italics ****are either thoughts or dreams and once again thank you MAGGIE!**

**Please enjoy!**

When Naruto met up with his tutor on a Monday morning, he was even more depressed than usual.

His mother had come in his room in the morning and seen his clothes strewn across the floor. She had him clean the bathroom with a tooth brush as punishment, but not before giving him a small lashing to remind him to keep his room spotless. So when he saw that the person he would be learning his ninjutsu from excluding rage, he subconsciously shrunk into himself. His weariness only seemed to infuriate the other boy more.

Seeing the blond boy's subtle fear in his body language, Sasuke wanted to cackle loudly in wicked glee. Naruto knew exactly what was coming for him.

_He should be scared! His stupidity got my skill to be questioned! I'm a perfect teacher, it's not my fault my student is an idiot! I'll show him what goofing off will cost him with me!_

Naruto, on the other hand, was regretful. He flinched when an evil smirk spread across his tutor's face. He wanted to turn and run out of the room, all the way to Jiraiya, to tell him that he needed a new tutor, He would even plead to quit, even though he hated the idea, if there was no one else to teach him.

Actually, the thought of quitting was starting to get increasingly appealing as the days went on. He didn't think he could deal with everything that came with it. His mother's lashings started because of them, now he had to constantly think of ways to hide it from her, which he thought was pointless seeing as he still got lashes for it just to 'reinforce the message', as his mother liked to say.

Now, he couldn't even get through any of the exercises because of the emotional effects the beating were giving him. And to add to all of that, Sasuke, the boy who had hated him ever since they had met, was his tutor and he looked like he was going to stab Naruto in the chest because of his failure to learn.

"Stand up straight Uzumaki, I'm going to turn you into a ninjutsu master even if it kills you. You better be ready, 'cause I'm not going easy on you anymore." The pale boy said in a deep, menacing voice. Naruto, being who he was, couldn't stop himself before he said the first thing that popped into his head.

"Isn't the phrase, 'even if it kills me?' not you?"

Sasuke chuckled, "Not in this case. The only person in danger of dying in this scenario is you, which will become a reality if you don't start shaping up." His glare made Naruto's heart stutter in fear and he barked angrily, "Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," Naruto mumbled through trembling lips.

"Good. We're going to start your training from the very beginning. You've obviously forgot everything, so we have to start from scratch and this time I'll make sure that the lessons stay imbedded into you." Naruto could only nod in agreement, too scared to argue and enrage Sasuke even more.

Training with Sasuke was a nightmare, to say the least. The other boy was training him so hard, it got to the point that Naruto was vomiting from exhaustion. Whenever Naruto fumbled or made a mistake more than two times, he had to run a mile or do fifty push-ups, pull-ups or sit ups before trying again. At one point Naruto was doing one move so bad that the pale boy made him run the lap, do the push-ups, pull-ups and sit ups all in one go before trying once more.

Naruto was so tired when he got home that he just collapsed on his bed. He didn't know a time he was so glad that his mother was away for the day other than today.

His last thoughts before he drifted off into blissful sleep were, _I don't know who to be more scared of anymore, mother or Sasuke._

_-Dream-_

_Naruto could hear Sasuke yelling at him as he went through his exercises, saying it was not quite good enough. "You have to be better than that, Uzumake! Stop being a waste of space! If you can't even do the simplest of moves, what good are you in life? I was right; you're nothing but a spoiled brat. Maybe if your mommy was here, she could help you." The pale boy sneered._

_"NO! I'll do better! Just give me a chance! Don't call my mother, please! I'll do anything. just give me another chance!" Naruto pleaded, tears streaming down his face. He saw his mother appear from behind Sasuke and paled sickly._

_"Too late, she's already here and the stench of your failure is stinking up the place so much, it's making me sick. Do I have to beat that out of you?"_

_"Hah, that's impossible! He doesn't have failure in him, he IS failure!"_

_"Well then, that means I just won't hold back when hitting him from now on, I don't know why I haven't already."_

_"Neither do I! Lets start his punishment now!" Whipping sticks suddenly appeared in their hands as they walked towards him. Naruto fled from them only to come to a dead end within seconds. He turned back around to watch his tormentors come upon him._

_"No, please! I'll be better, I'll try harder, please!" Naruto was crying without abandon. Had the two had a bit of a heart, they would have taken pity on the poor boy._

_-Dream end-_

Naruto woke from a nightmare, panting and covered in a cold sweat. He put his hand to his chest and felt his heart racing. _It was only a dream, calm down. Sasuke doesn't know mother. They aren't going to gang up on you._ Naruto told himself, but he knew from the second he had Sasuke as his tutor, his life was only going from bad to terrible.

"T-Time to get use to living in a nightmare..."Naruto choked out, a silent tear sliding down his cheek.

**READ AND REVIEW OR YOU"LL MAKE NARUTO CRY! And he's cried enough don't you think? Why would you make him cry more! lol**

**And yes I know I've said it'll get happier**** but you just have to wait some more, cause it does get worse just warning you all now**


	7. Chapter 7

**OH MY DEAR GOD! I AM ALIVE!**

**on a serious note though, I am SOOOOO sorry for the disappearance act, first the website wouldn't let me upload anything then I got unmotivated because of that and then school happened but here it is finally! hopefully with summer I'll be able to upload more faster.**

Naruto was right in his assessment of living in a nightmare. Sasuke worked him like a slave driver, never letting him rest; the other boy would even sometimes make him run laps because he thought Naruto was thinking of resting. Needless to say, after every session, Naruto could barely move.

One day, Sasuke actually left his student lying dead tired on the ground, looking as if he was about to pass out for the rest of the day, without a hint of guilt. Naruto ended up waking up, at the dead of night, with a stray cat licking his face. Naturally, Naruto panicked and ran home, to find his house thankfully empty. Naruto was so exhausted he collapsed on his bed and didn't get up until 3:00pm the next day. Fortunately for him, it was a Saturday, so he didn't miss any school and escaped two possible beatings from his mother that day.

Naruto woke up from his alarm blaring out at him at 5:00am. He reached over and hit the dismiss button and dragged his sore and stiff body out of bed and into the shower.

It had only been two weeks since Sasuke had started his new work out regime with the blonde boy, but Naruto felt like it had been a decade from how tired and worn out he was all the time. He knew this type of exercise was dangerous; he had been puking from over-exertion after every session, and Sasuke never let him have any time to rest once, making him feel like he was going to pass out from dehydration, but he was terrified of saying anything to the cold hearted boy. He was just waiting till he fell and didn't get up again.

That day would come sooner than he expected.

"Naruto! Hey wake up! Class is over." Naruto felt his someone pushing him awake. He jolted up, looking around, only to see an empty classroom and his friend, Rock Lee, looking at him with concern.

"Hey are you ok? You've been looking pretty sick lately and you've been napping in class a lot."

Naruto blinked a few times before he heard what Lee said. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine; I've just been a bit tired lately. I've been taking karate lessons, I'm just getting used to the work out." Naruto languidly put his things away and left the class with Lee in tow.

Thankfully for Naruto it was lunch at the moment which meant he could eat and hopefully get some energy in himself before going to another one of Sasuke's training days after school today.

At first when Naruto started throwing up after every session, he would eat little to nothing, thinking it might prevent him from doing so if his stomach was empty. It only made it worse when he ended up dry heaving and hurting is stomach muscles. Naruto now just ate enough to give him energy but stopped before he got full.

His friends started to notice that he was looking worse and worse everyday. He tried to reassure them all that it was just that he was working hard with his karate lessons and school work which ended up giving him less time then usual and he just had to get used to the routine. Despite this his friends worried for him, not believing his excuses and tried to get him to open up to them everyday.

"Naruto, are you sure you're aright? You look really pale today and you haven't been eating a lot these days, not to mention all the bruises. Even if you are practicing ninjustu, you're taking it way to far. You look unhealthy." Sakura said the second he sat down.

Out of the entire group she was the most persistent at trying to figure out what was wrong with him. She knew he wasn't telling the whole truth about why he was so tired and the more he brushed it off the more she was concerned. She would beat the answer out of him like she usually does, but seeing how hurt and worn-out he was, she didn't have it in her to hurt him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just didn't get enough sleep last night is all."

He comforted himself, thinking that technically he wasn't lying. He hadn't slept well, not since he started training with Sasuke, he just omitted the parts about how his training could be considered abuse with anyone who had a heart. He had already come to the conclusion that the raven-haired boy didn't possess one, just a black hole that sucked the happiness out of the world.

'_That's a bit dramatic even for me, but it doesn't mean it's untrue.' _Naruto thought.

His friends correctly taking his answer as a dismissal switched the topic to school related problems.

The remainder or school passed by too fast for the blonde boy who was dreading his session with the sadistic boy who called himself his tutor, and he dragged himself to their usual training grounds.

"Pick it up Blondie! I haven't got all day to wait for you! It's just a mile; it shouldn't be taking you this long!" Naruto ran harder when he heard his tutor yell at him, knowing if he didn't push himself to the bone, the abuse would only get worse.

Anyone else would have felt pity for the poor boy as he all but dragged himself towards the raven haired boy, but Sasuke only felt a sick satisfaction at seeing the blond tired and weak.

"Well, well, I see someone has decided to be lazy today. It took you ten minutes to run that mile, when earlier it only took you eight. Did you think I wouldn't be keeping time? Did you think I wouldn't notice if you slacked off? Huh?!" Sasuke yelled in Naruto's face, making sure to have spittle fly in blonde's face.

He smirked when he saw Naruto's mouth twitch and his jaw tighten. He knew that the blond had wanted to say something in defense or in protest, but he had shown the other boy very quickly what would happen if he mouthed off. He made sure Naruto would take any abuse he gave from day one, without a fight.

_-Flashback-_

_"Okay, maggot, this is your first day of a new training regiment. I already told you what will happen if you don't succeed and hopefully within a few days we can at least get you to do the simplest of exercises without failing as you have so far. Another thing you will be punished for is slacking off, if I even feel like you're THINKING about slowing down, you'll run laps. Understand?"_

_"You can't be serious about this, Sasuke; I'll die before the month is out!" Naruto disagreed, panicked that he would still fail even with the punishing workouts as an incentive to do better, he didn't think he could stop his mother's voice in his head. _

_"Oh? Back talk already, rich boy? Well that just cost you a mile run, get to running." Sasuke smirked at the boy. When he saw the blond wasn't moving he barked, "NOW!" _

_Naruto jumped and quickly started to run in circles around the area, until the raven haired boy told him to stop. _

_"And after that mile, you can come do a hundred push-ups and sit-ups. No slowing down or stopping or you'll start all over!" Sasuke shouted. _

_Naruto ended up finishing the whole punishment after three tries, only to immediately start ninjustu training. Needless to say, after that Naruto never said anything back when insulted or treated unfairly. He just took all he was given without a word, though if looks could kill Sasuke would have been dead that first day. _

_-End Flashback-_

Sasuke watched in absolute glee as he saw the anger rise in the blond. He made sure to only let a smirk out, careful not to show how much pleasure he took in his torture.

"I think I deserve an apology from you. You keep slacking off, while I'm going through all this extra time to train you. I want you to apologize to me for wasting my time on a slacker like you." Sasuke said in an even tone with a smug look on his face.

Naruto's body became strained, forcing himself not to say anything or simply attack the smug bastard in front of him. He gritted his teeth as he stood undecided about whether he should apologize, leave, or beat the other boy. He quickly crossed out attacking as he was too tired and weak to attack anybody, even less against a person who is a master at ninjustu at so young an age. Finally Naruto sighed resigned to just apologize.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time sensei, it won't happen again." Naruto forced out.

"You better see that it doesn't, because if I see you slacking again, I won't go easy on you like I have been." Sasuke smile became an evil grin when he saw the blonde's eyes widen in shock, "Oh yes, I can do a lot worse then exercise you to death, so don't upset me again. Now go do another mile in eight minutes this time!"

Naruto quickly set off, going as fast as he could to meet with the eight minute time limit. Sasuke watched as he ran, not even bothering to start the timer, whether Naruto completed the time or not, he would say he failed. Though he did actually want to train today, and Naruto needed to learn how to fight with weapons soon, as he had been informed by Jiraiya Sensei that weapon's training would start soon for all students.

Sasuke may have been evil, but he knew he had to be careful when dealing with weapons with a novice, so he would put his petty revenge aside for an hour and teach Naruto how to throw kunai correctly.

Naruto was ashamed to admit that for a split second a flash of crippling fear went through him when he got back from his run, to see that Sasuke had knives in his hand. He knew despite the hatred the other boy felt towards him, he would never actually kill him, but Naruto's addled and exhausted mind forgot that for a quick moment. And even with the knowledge that no real harm would come to him, he still approached the raven haired boy with hesitancy in his steps.

"Get over here Blondie, its time you learned how to handle a kunai, sensei's orders." Sasuke didn't even look up from where he was; too busy putting up targets a few feet away from where he had placed the weapons.

Naruto staggered over towards the other boy, his boy ready to fall and never get up. As he neared where the kunai lay, his eyes drooped, but not wanting to be reprimanded again, he shook his head and tried to stay as alert as possible.

Sasuke walked over towards Naruto and noticed him wobble as he stood waiting for more orders. Sasuke smirked, hundreds of insults filling his mind, all waiting to be hurled at the other boy. Just as he opened his mouth with an abusive sentence ready to be said, Naruto's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he crumpled, his head smacking into the table, causing a gash. Sasuke stood in shock as he watched the scene unfold. As he started towards the other boy to check on him, one of the kunai slid off the table and landed perfectly to stab a hole in Naruto's hand. The blonde, already unconscious, didn't even flinch or jump as the knife cut his hand. Sasuke seeing the amount of blood that was spreading ran over panicked, dreading the worst.

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit! You better not be dead" Sasuke said as he leaned over the other boy and checking his neck for a pulse. He let loose a sigh in relief when he felt a slow but steady beat against his fingers and quickly cut pieces of his shirt off to press against Naruto's head wound and around the knife in his hand. Once he finished that he picked the other boy up and started toward the nearest hospital.

'_This is all my fault. I knowingly pushed him way to hard but I never thought the idiot would last so long, let alone get a major injury, SHIT!'_


	8. Chapter 8

**A.N. BOOM! Another chapter super fast! I'm on a roll! hopefully t continues though for some reason the only time i'm ever inspired to write is after midnight. oh well hope you all like it! **

The hospital was quite today, all the staff bored but at the same time enjoying their paid relaxation. Nurses where sitting quietly reading or doing crossword puzzles, while doctors were either catching up on work sleep or new procedures while they had the time, All around, no one was expecting it to be a busy day.

Sasuke burst through the hospital doors with a big bang, still carrying Naruto bridal style while yelling, "Help someone help. He's really hurt!

The nurses at the reception desk jumped at the sudden noise and only took a second to realize what happened and to rush to the two boys at the entrance doors. Sasuke was relieved at the quick response and help.

"He hit his head on a table, we were training when he fell over and one of the knives fell and stabbed his hand. He's lost a lot of blood!" Sasuke had to practically yell over all the noise made by the doctors and nurses rushing to get Naruto to the emergency wing. Within minutes of Sasuke barging into the hospital carrying Naruto, the blond was rushed off to an MRI to check his head for concussion.

"Hey do you know his blood type?" Sasuke was startled by the question not having noticed a lone nurse coming back to him.

"No, we aren't that close, we just go to the same dojo. Is he gonna be alright?"

"We don't know yet, but he doesn't look too bad. So you don't know anything, not even a last name so we can contact his parents?" Sasuke merely shook his head, he knew Naruto's last name, but for some reason lied and didn't say. With that the nurse went to inform the doctors that they had no information other than a first name so no knowledge of his blood type or medical history.

Sasuke didn't know how long he waited, but he resolved not to leave, he was the reason Naruto was here in the first place. _Stupid! How could you not notice he was about to collapse! The signs were right in front of your face! A child could have spotted them!_ Sasuke tried to push down his guilt as much as possible, knowing deep inside that he had noticed Naruto's condition well before he blacked out, he just chose to ignore them out of spite and hate for the blond who seemed to have it all in his life. The blond didn't know what it was like having to fend for himself and try to make enough money to eat let alone keep your own apartment. Add staying an A+ student and a ninjustu rising star; Sasuke had to fight and work hard for everything he had, he bet Naruto didn't even know what hard work even felt like until he started training under him. Then again, Naruto wasn't trained under him, he was basically tortured. _ You nearly killed him, and for what? Because he's rich?_ Sasuke shook the thoughts away and just prayed for Naruto's recovery, he didn't know if he could live with himself if something really wrong happened to the other boy because of him.

Mercifully a doctor finally came out looking for him. Sasuke walked right up to him, not wanting to wait to hear how Naruto was.

"Thankfully your friend is going to be fine. He's sleeping now. He suffered only a minor concussion and only had to have about 10 stitches on his head. As for the knife through his hand, fortunately it missed his nerves by centimeters and we were able to clean and close it up with minimal complications. He'll experience some concussion symptoms as to be expected and his hand will be sore and he might have some troubles moving it at first because of the swelling but he'll make a full recovery and barring any problems only needs to come back in a couple of days for a quick check up and then a week later to remove the stitches." Sasuke nodded along, he knew his share of doctor visits and knew the protocol with stitches and concussions so he knew Naruto would be perfectly okay from the doctor's assessment of his progress.

"The only problem he really has is the cuts on his back. We saw it was a bit of an older wound, probably from some more ninjustu training just like the bruises, but you'll need to tell him to clean his injuries better next time, the cuts were a bit infected, we cleaned them up of course, just letting you know to be more careful with your health as you are both in the same dojo." The doctor smiled at him as if to lessen the scolding tone he had taken towards the end of his assessment. Sasuke merely nodded again trying to hide away the shock the news of the cuts on Naruto's back had caused him to feel. _When did the blonde idiot hurt his back? He never complained about it before. Then again I doubt I'd be the first person he'd tell about an injury. _

"Can I go see him?" Sasuke didn't know why he asked, he just wanted to see the blond for himself. The doctor lead him to Naruto's room, warned about letting him get his rest and that he might still be a little bit disoriented from the anesthesia, before leaving Sasuke alone to see the other boy.

Sasuke entered the room slowly, still unsure if he should enter or not, but his curiosity about Naruto's back was killing him. He wanted to see the cuts the doctor was talking about. In fact he wanted to see the bruises too; his training with Naruto rarely involved actual fighting or any contact between them. As cruel as he was, he never deliberately beat up the boy, knowing he had years of experience and training ahead of the blonde, he knew it wouldn't be a fair fight and he refused to stoop so low in his revenge. So that begged the question, where did all these mystery injuries come from. Sasuke approached quietly and cautiously, careful not to wake the sleeping boy, at least, not until he had a look at the damage done to his body. As soon as he was close to the bed he reached towards the blonde, trying to make him shift if not turn over so he could lift up the hospital gown to take a look at his back. Sadly it was easier said tan done. I turned out Naruto was a stubborn sleeper and didn't like shifting positions. Every time Sasuke started to move him to his side, Naruto would grunt and shift Sasuke's hand off him wile getting comfortable on his back. Sasuke at one point got desperate enough to try to tickle the boy to make him move. All it got him was louder runts and Naruto moving side t side… on his back. Sasuke quickly checked the door to make sure no one had heard Naruto's sleepy protests and when he deemed the coast was clear, he turned back to the blonde and threw caution to the winds and promptly forced Naruto onto his stomach and shoved the hospital gown up to his neck.

Naruto feeling himself being manhandled immediately responded by trying to flail around and try to throw off his attacker. But because Naruto was still disoriented from fainting, his concussion and his anesthesia, it wasn't the best fight. It didn't help that his attacker also happened to be much stronger and knew how to keep a person locked in a fallen position.

Sasuke gasped at what he saw. The doctors may have believed this was from training but Sasuke knew better. This was purposeful abuse. Each cut was a result of someone whose purpose was to hurt the shorter boy, not some accident that happened in a dojo. He was appalled at what he saw, especially on a closer look he could see faint scars of the same type of wound below the fresh scabbing ones on his back. Not even thinking, Sasuke started to reach with his hand towards the cuts effectively letting go of his hold on the squirming boy.

The second Naruto heard the gasp; he shut his eyes in shame. He had nothing to say whoever discovered his punishments; it only renewed he vigor in getting free. When he felt the holds that had been successfully keeping him hostage he sprung up, not wasting the opportunity to get free and pulled his shirt- _gown- _down to face his captor. Naruto's eyes widened when they saw that it was Sasuke who seen his cuts and from the look on the other boy's face, his scars as well.

They stared at each other in silence for a minute, neither knowing what to do or say to the other about the new discovery. This gave Naruto to study his surroundings. White walls and a sharp smell of disinfectant in the air surrounded him. He noticed he was on an uncomfortable bed with an uncomfortable gown on. _I'm in a hospital. Not only that, I'm in a hospital room. I'm a patient! What the hell happened?_

Naruto felt a splitting pain in his head out of nowhere and when he tried to lift his hand to his head he felt the dull throbbing coming from his left hand and saw it was covered in bandages. As hard as Naruto tried he couldn't remember anything except that he was running his laps with Sasuke glaring at him the whole way. His face must have given something away because when Sasuke opened his mouth to talk he didn't ask questions like he was expecting.

"You fainted when you came back from your run and hit your head on the table and when you hit your head you toppled some kunai and one of them ended up embedded in your left hand," He saw Naruto lose all the blood from his face at the information and fear grow in his eyes as he looked back at his hand and hurried on to explain, "The doctor said your hand would be fine. It missed all the nerves; it'd just be sore and swollen for a week or two." He saw Naruto sigh in relief at the news and strangely it made Sasuke feel a tin bit warm knowing Naruto wasn't stressed or panicked. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the weird feelings. It must be because of the guilt of putting him in here in the first place.

Naruto took a deep breathe and let t out slowly before turning his body to fully face the boy, "So… you saw my back…"

**Don't forget to review I love love love reviews! **


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:Took me a bit longer than I expected but the conversation ended up having a mind of its own and wrote itself like this, hope you like it :)**

_Naruto took a deep breathe and let t out slowly before turning his body to fully face the boy, "So… you saw my back…" _

Sasuke just opened and closed his mouth in shock. He wasn't expecting Naruto to be so upfront about it. He expected him to deny and ignore it for as long as possible. It threw Sasuke for a minute and all he could do in response was nod silently.

Naruto sighed; he knew there was no point in stalling the inevitable questions. He could see that Sasuke wasn't going to let it go. He would probably want to relish in the fact that Naruto was being tortured elsewhere, relish in the fact that Naruto was apparently hated by others. _Mom doesn't hate me. She loves me; I just needed to be taught a lesson, punished for breaking the rules. She does it because she cares! _Naruto shook his head trying to stop thinking altogether. He didn't want to think about his mom right now, not with Sasuke in front of him.

"How… who? I- Who did that to you?" Naruto wasn't expecting the concern he heard in the other boy's voice. He sounded close to tears, but that couldn't be right. Sasuke hated him.

Frowning Naruto answered, "It isn't important-"

"Of course it's important! Who did that to you?!" Sasuke yelled, "That's not injuries you get from a fight! That looks like you were whipped! It's important… It matters who did it…" Sasuke quieted down looking like a lost little boy who didn't know what to do and he didn't, he just knew he wanted to help. He needed to help Naruto.

Naruto was shocked into silence. He didn't get it. Sasuke hated him, hurt him on purpose, and made his life a living hell every minute he spent in his presence. Why would he care if he's being whipped, he should be happy knowing there was someone else who hurt him. After all Naruto felt like the other boy was inches away from whipping him, himself during training when he couldn't master things quickly. Naruto didn't know what to say, so he stayed quiet. As if Sasuke could read his mind the other boy continued talking.

"I know I treat you like shit, I won't even deny that I hate. I hate you so much…" He sighed, "Because you seem like you have _everything_! You don't have problems; you have friends who care about you. You don't have to work hard to get good grades… a place to live," Sasuke's voice got softer, "food to eat, people to care." His voice cracked on the last word. Two tears he had been holding in slipped from his eyes. Naruto did nothing, said nothing, just watch enraptured by the normally stoic boy breaking down silently in front of him. All because he saw his back. Naruto slowly got out of the bed, not wanting to startle the crying boy who had yet to open his eyes. He reached out with his right hand, and rested it lightly on the other boys shoulder, not knowing how else to show him comfort.

Sasuke flinched away from the contact, "Just… don't, you were supposed to be perfect. You were supposed to have a perfect life!" Sasuke whispered; his eyes still closed as tears streamed down his face.

"Sasuke, I…. I'm sorry…"

"NO! YOU"RE SUPPOSED TO BE PERFECT AND HAPPY! NOT..." He sighed, almost defeated. "You're not supposed to be the abused one. You're not supposed to be the one who know what that feels like." The way he kept saying 'you' was discerning to Naruto.

"I'm not perfect. I don't have the perfect life. No one does. And if I'm not supposed to know what… abuse," he stumbled over the word, "is like, then who? Who was this supposed to happen to? The answer is no one! No one is supposed to feel like this!" Naruto paused to take a deep breath to calm down. They both couldn't break down right now, one of them had to stay calm or the whole conversation would probably blow up in they're faces.

No one should feel like they are worthless, like they will never be good enough, like no matter what, no matter how much they succeed, they will still just be a disappointment that could have achieved more, could have done better." Naruto couldn't believe what he was admitting, what he was confessing and to Sasuke of all people! But he couldn't stop; now that he had started he knew he would keep going until he confessed it all. "It makes you feel like you're damaged or defective. It makes you feel like you have a hole in your heart or soul that you can never fill up because no matter how much you pour into the hole, the shame and guilt of not being good enough just sucks it all up until all you're left with is an even bigger hole." Naruto had to pause to stem the tears that threatened to spill over. With a quivering voice he admitted his biggest fear, to his biggest tormentor. "I'm scared one day; all that's going to be left is the hole, except there won't be any bit of my heart and soul left so that the hole will just become a void. I'll finally just stop feeling anything but shame, guilt, disappointment… and pain." Naruto squeezed his eyes shut hard to no avail, his tears finally escaped down his face, "I'm scared cause… I can already feel it happening and as much as I want to stop it, I keep feeling more and more numb everyday."

"NO! That's not the live you're supposed to lead! Don't you get it?! You're the perfect one! I'm the one with the screwed up life and family! I'm the bitter abused child; you're the naïve innocent one! This isn't how it's supposed to be! I hate you because you're happy! Because you have everything! I.. I tor-tortured… because I was jealous… and all to find out…FUCK!" Sasuke took his anger and frustration out on the chair next to him, beside the bed, kicking it until it fell over and was across the room. Naruto rushed to stop him before the doctors or nurses came in to see what the commotion was about.

"You didn't know," He whispered, putting a calming hand on his shoulder, "you couldn't have known. Its okay, you made a mistake; everyone does. I…I forgive you, please calm down. Please."

Sasuke sighed heavily, sounding almost like a sob and it could have been for all Naruto knew, not being able to see the other boy's face for he was slumped over looking down; defeated. He found out which it was when he saw the raven haired boy's shoulders heave and soft cries came from him as he whispered sorry over and over. Naruto didn't think, he quickly scooped the crying boy into his arms, hugging the boy tightly to himself.

"Its okay, its okay, I forgive you, you didn't know. It's okay."

"But its not, I don't deserve forgiveness."

"Well I saw you do and I'm the one who is doing the forgiving so if I say I forgive you then you should accept it and move on." He smirked a little, "And if you really feel bad you can always make it up to me by taking it easy on me in our training sessions from now on."

Sasuke let out a chocked laugh, "for someone so smart, you're an idiot."

Naruto smiled softly, "I know."

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