7

It took a day, but soon, Naruto's house was completely empty, all his important belongings moved to the Nara's main house. The plants he kept around his house were put in a special room, with a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing a ton of natural light to reach them.

After finding out about the plans, Naruto was shocked. He didn't know what to think. He tried to reject them, but his rejections were all denied, being told that all the moving was already being done. Yoshino and Shikaku were shocked at the state of the blond's home. They couldn't believe that he lived there for so long, nor how he could've possibly felt safe there. Then they remembered that he didn't really feel safe at all, and they hurriedly gathered everything they could carry, not wanting the blond to ever return to that place. Even the location was questionable. Who lets a child live in the red light district?

With the plants all in the special room, Naruto spent several hours tending to each one, and arranging them to his desires, and also so they could receive the most amount of sunlight from the window. He even had some moon flowers, plants that only bloom at night under the moon.

With that all taken care of, Naruto and Shikamaru took the time to organize the Pineapple's drawers and closet in order to give the blond space for his own clothing and items. It was a rather easy process. Surprisingly, the Pineapple didn't complain once about it being "too troublesome" or being "such a drag" as he so often complained about many other things. Naruto was grateful for that, at least, though he didn't exactly understand why his "friend" wasn't complaining. He didn't understand that being able to spend time with the blond was enough to make the Pineapple enjoy himself, and not want to be lazy.

That night, Yoshino made a very special dinner to celebrate Naruto moving in. The blond didn't want to be a burden, but she persisted, and kept on him until he told her all of his favorite foods (and not simply ramen either).

They ended up having a dinner of curry and white rice, and mochi for dessert. There was a lot of laughter and fun had at the table that night, and no cares were given about what was going to happen in the future, or anything. It was like nobody had any worries at all for the night. It was perfect.

A few days later, with Naruto finally feeling better after the horrible injuries he endured, he and Shikamaru left the house together, parting when they reached the training grounds, Naruto going to meet his team, and Shikamaru heading to another to meet with his own.

The second he arrived, the smile he'd had on his face since days ago, fell almost instantly.

Sakura stood there in front of him, hands on her hips, looking haughty as usual, with an expression that said she was going to scold him, and he wasn't going to like it at all.

She came right up to him,  and immediately began screaming at him.

"Baka! Why were you walking here with Shikamaru? Don't you know that he's got things he has to do? Why are you bothering him? And why haven't you been to training the last few days? You missing was stopping my Sasuke-Kun from getting stronger."

"He walked here with me, Sakura-Chan. Why else would I be walking with him? Also, if he isn't complaining about me bothering him, then I don't think you need to worry about me bothering him. He'd tell me if there were a problem, so butt out, Bubblegum. And also, you haven't worried about me before, so why start now?"

Sakura was shocked. As was Sasuke. He didn't expect the blond to react that way, not at all.

There was a moment of awkward silence, before a puff of smoke appeared, and Kakashi was there when it cleared. He immediately noticed the tension in the air, and sweat dropped. His first thought was that Naruto had said something to Sasuke, causing Sakura to insult him, which in turn caused, the two to argue, and Sasuke to call them annoying. That had been the pattern for a while, anyway.

"Alright, you three. Whatever Naruto may have said to Sakura can't have been that bad."

The Genin all looked at their Sensei, when Sasuke decided he should speak up.

"Sakura started it."

Instantly, Sakura blew up.

"I did not!" Sakura screeched. "Naruto showed up with Shikamaru and I told him not to bother the guy, and Naruto talked back in a way he's never done before."

"Maybe because I've had enough of your shit, Sakura. Ever thought of that?" Naruto said in an I'm sick of your shit tone.

Kakashi sweat dropped again, as Sakura's jaw dropped. Sasuke, on the other hand, had a very poorly hidden smirk on his face, holding back a chuckle enjoying the scene before him.

"I think that's enough now, Naruto. I think you need to speak a bit nicer to your teammates," Kakashi said, in a placating voice, hands up in a "calm down" gesture.

Naruto scoffed. "Oh, I'm the one that needs to be nicer to them? Where were they when I was being tortured almost daily? Where were they when I was late because I was so badly beaten I couldn't even move? Were they even concerned about me these last few days that I didn't even show up at all to training? I don't think so. Sakura only asked me about it because my absence messed up her 'poor Sasuke-Kun's training'. So don't tell me I need to be nicer to them when they have never cared about me since this team was formed." He stared at the others around him, rolled his eyes, and put his hands in his pockets. "Obviously, I'm not really wanted here, so I'm gonna leave. Later."

Naruto turned around, and walked off, not even giving his teammates a second glance. The other three stared at each other, curious as to what exactly just happened, but not quite sure if they really wanted to know.

"Kakashi-Sensei, was any of that stuff he mentioned true? The torture or beatings?" Sakura finally asked, looking at her stunned Sensei. The man didn't respond and she wasn't sure whether to take that as a good sign or not.

"I...I need to go speak with Lord Hokage right now, so training is postponed until I say." Kakashi instantly vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving leaves in his wake. Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other and shrugged, deciding to go their separate ways.

_(:3 」∠)_

Naruto walked as calmly as he could in his emotional state, until he reached the training ground Shikamaru mentioned he and his team would be using that day. Upon seeing Team 10 training together, he took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart and stop his eyes from stinging. It wasn't really helping.

Ino looked up from where she and the other Genin from Team 10 were training, and spotted the blond, looking rather sad. "Hey, isn't that Naruto up there?" She said, catching both her teammates' attention. Shikamaru's head shot up so fast she thought she heard his neck crack. The second he spotted the blond standing there, head down and hands fisted at his sides, he stood quickly, and rushed over to the blond's side.

The second he reached Naruto, he embraced the blond, already knowing that Naruto couldn't hold in his emotions any longer.

"Sh, its ok, Naru. I have you. I'm right here. You can let it out. Don't hold back." Pineapple was rubbing soothing circles over the blond's back as he whispered into the boy's ear, and then kept whispering sweet words as he felt the blond's body shaking and his shoulder becoming damp from Naruto's tears. "You're ok, Naru. I've got you. I'm not going anywhere. When you calm down you can tell me what made you so upset, sound good?"

Naruto simply nodded, clenching his fists in the material of Shikamaru's shirt. The blond continued to cry for several minutes, as the remaining members of Team 10 watched in fascination. They had never seen their lazy teammate be so caring toward someone. Maybe the deer from the Nara forest, but that didn't exactly count. The way he had rushed over also was very much unlike him.

Naruto finally began to calm down, and was just sniffling, when he pulled away from Shikamaru's shoulder. The Pineapple caressed the blond's cheeks and wiped the stray tears with the pads of his thumbs while he looked into the boy's eyes, letting their foreheads touch.

"You feel a little better now?" Naruto nodded softly. "Think you could tell me what got you so upset in the first place?"

Naruto explained what happened, and Shikamaru remained calm the entire time, despite his inner turmoil wanting to hunt down both the bubblegum bitch, and the cyclops bastard. He knew his blond angel wouldn't want him to do that, though.

Asuma-Sensei approached the pair, and gently placed his hand on Naruto's back, not wanting to startle the boy.

"Hey, Naruto. What's got you so upset? Aren't you enjoying staying with Shikamaru and his parents?"

"That's not why he's upset, Asuma-Sensei," Shikamaru answered instead, laying Naruto's head back down onto his dry shoulder, and allowing the blond a chance to rest a little. "He got into a bit of a fight with his team, and not a sparring fight, either. Apparently, Sakura saw me walk him to their training grounds and didn't like it. She tried to tell him off, and instead he retorted back, which they weren't expecting him to do. Then Kakashi came and first said that whatever Naru said to Sakura couldn't have been that bad, implying that it was Naruto's fault the atmosphere was tense, and Sakura tried to put the blame all on Naru, until Sasuke broke in, and said it was Sakura, who then blew up and told the truth. Naru said he had had enough of her attitude after her explanation. Upon hearing that, Kakashi told him he should be 'nicer to his teammates', and Naru kinda blew up on them, basically asking why should he be nice to them when they've never been there for him when he needed them. When they were never concerned about him. After he said all that, he left, and came right here. It hurt him, not even having anyone from his own team on his side."

Asuma-Sensei was stunned. He nodded his head and told Shikamaru he could take Naruto home. The blond looked exhausted.

At the mentioning of that, the Pineapple realized that Naruto had fallen asleep on his shoulder. With a soft chuckle, the Pineapple easily picked Naruto up, and carried him back home.

Asuma-Sensei returned to the other two members of Team 10, seeing their curious faces.

"What happened to Naruto, Sensei?" Chōji asked first. Asuma tried to explain to the best of his ability, before he dismissed the pair.

"I have a really important meeting to go to at the Hokage's office, so I'm going to cut training short today. I hope you two have a good rest of your day." With that, Asuma-Sensei vanished in a puff of smoke, with leaves left in his place.

Ino and Chōji looked at each other, and decided that they wanted to find out more about Naruto and Shikamaru's relationship, so they followed the two back to the Nara compound.

Meanwhile, Asuma-Sensei reached the Hokage's office at the same time as Kakashi did, which was odd since Kakashi left his team sooner than Asuma.

"You have some real nerve, you know?" Asuma started, instantly pissed. He didn't have to tell Kakashi what he was referring to. The guy had a pretty good idea.

"So he went to your team, I take it?"

Asuma nodded. "He was so near tears that Shikamaru basically held him and the boy broke down crying. You should take better care of your students. Especially that boy, when he is the son of your precious Sensei."

Kakashi sighed. "I wasn't there when they were having the argument. I had only arrived to feel the tension in the air. I made a single comment about Naruto being nicer to his teammates, and he blew up before he left. I didn't know any of the things he was talking about."

"You mean the torture and beatings?" Kakashi nodded again. Asuma sighed sadly. "Yeah, they're true. And they're the reason that he wasn't able to go to training the last few days..."

Kakashi raised a questioning brow. How did Asuma know this, when Kakashi, the blond's Sensei had no clue about it?

Asuma explained what happened to the blond, not leaving out any details. Making sure to inform Kakashi who made which statement.

"And I know all of that is true, because I'm the one that Shikamaru called when he found the blond. So I was there to see first-hand the stab wounds on him, and I was at the Nara's house when he found Naruto's other injury. Do you know the real reason your student wears long sleeves, even in the summer?"

Kakashi couldn't believe what he was hearing. He immediately understood what Asuma was implying with his last question, but he didn't want it to be true at all.

"No.. don't tell me..." Asuma confirmed his fears with a simple nod of his head. Kakashi's own hung low in shame. "How can I call myself his teacher if I can't even recognize those signs? Especially ones that I myself had displayed in the past? What kind of teacher am I?" He raised his head instantly in concern. "Wait, now knowing that he does that, how do we know he won't do it again? He lives alone in that disgusting old apartment??"

"He doesn't live there anymore. He moved after this last incident. And where he now lives, they make sure that he gives them all of his Kunai and Shuriken before he is able to go up to his bedroom. He and his 'roommate' have to count their weapons before they leave, in the presence of his 'roommate's' mother, and then count them a second time when they get home, to make sure that neither of them tries to hide one on their person. They aren't taking any chances with him."

Kakashi heaved a huge sigh of relief. Then, he knocked on the Hokage's office door, waiting for the response before opening the door.

"Kakashi, Asuma, what can I do for you both?" Hiruzen asked.

"I need to know what happened to Naruto. Asuma told me the most recent, but I need to know more."

Hiruzen looked at Kakashi in surprise. "What brought all this on?"

"Naruto mentioned something at training today, before he walked away, due to something that Sakura and I said to him. I want to make sure we're both well informed so that we can understand him better and don't make any more mistakes. Does that make sense?"

Hiruzen nodded his head. He pulled his pipe out of a drawer, and lit it carefully. After taking a few puffs from it, he began telling Kakashi about all the torture that Naruto had to endure during his short life.

"Well, it all started when he was a young child," the Sandaime began.