THE ONE WHO LOVED YOU
...
...Naruto...
Naruto looked up at the woman besides him. She looked about seventeen or eighteen, with long, trailing brown hair. He couldn’t see her face clearly, but he could at least see her smile, which looked at him lovingly.
Come here, Naruto.
Naruto continued to stare at the woman.
“Who are you?” Naruto called, stepping towards the woman.
Naruto...I--
Suddenly, the woman fell, blood pouring out of many wounds. Naruto kneeled besides the woman, who was looking up at him with pretty onyx colored eyes.
Naruto, mommy loves you.--
Naruto sat upright with a gasp. He noticed that his entire body was shaking. He shivered as he gathered up his blankets, which were tossed onto the floor. What was with that dream? Naruto wondered. I’m a jonin now…..That dream has been bothering me for a while now Naruto stood up. Who was that woman? What does she have to do with me?
Mommy loves you
Naruto shook his head. No, she can’t be my mom. He thought. She didn’t look anything like me! Plus...my mother abandoned me. That’s what Kakashi-sensei told me a few years ago...this woman was nice. Really nice. And she said she loved me. So who was it?
Naruto wandered to his cabinet. No use in wondering about it now, he sighed. Just time for some good old ramen. Naruto opened the cabinet just to find spider webs. He cursed. There’s no ramen! Crap! Today I took off for missions...What do I do for food?! I’m starving!
Then Naruto remembered the only guy who would always treat him to ramen, no matter how much it would cost. Oh yeah! Iruka-sensei will treat me! He cheered in his mind. Yay! Free ramen! And so the number one knuckle-headed hyperactive ninja grabbed his jacket, pulled on his pants, and ran out the door.
--
“Hey, sensei! Wake up!” Naruto yelled, banging on his former sensei’s door. Impulsively, he opened the door.
His sensei stood there, hand reached out to open the door. Naruto immediately noticed that Iruka’s face was blotched, and his eyes a deep red. “Sensei…?” Naruto could not recall a time when he had seen Iruka in such bad condition. “Sensei, what’s wrong?”
Iruka smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, Naruto. Come in.” Iruka stepped out of the doorway to let Naruto into the house. “Sorry if it’s a little messy. I just haven’t been up to cleaning lately.” Iruka tried to grin, but failed. “So, do you want to go out for ramen?”
“...yeah...” Naruto mumbled.
“Alright, just let me get changed.” Iruka ran into another room.
Sensei’s house really is messy... Naruto thought. The floor of the living room was littered with pictures. Naruto casually picked one up. It was of a blond boy, with whiskers on his cheeks, about two years old or so, smiling and laughing at a festival. Wait...Isn’t that me?! Wait a sec….all of these pictures are of me when I was little! I didn’t even know these existed...So how--?
“Sorry I took so long!” Iruka called, running into the room.
“Sensei...” Naruto turned to the older man. “Why do you have a picture of me when I was a baby?” Naruto presented the picture to Iruka.
Iruka was silent for a minute. “Sit down, Naruto.” He said, settling down on the floor. Naruto casually followed suit. “Someone gave these to me a long time ago.” He said, tracing the picture of little Naruto at a festival. “She was a sweet person. She loved you with all her heart.”
“Who was she?”
“Tsume Korohiga...The woman who adopted you.”
