Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Red Scar: Uzumaki Redemption

The Two Sides of Grief and Moving On

Last time on Red Scar: Uzumaki Redemption,

And so,

"Team Ten reporting Tsunade-sama." Kakashi said as he entered the Hokage office in the tower. Tsunade looked up from her papers and saw the said team but couldn't help but notice on how Shikamaru had this unhappy expression on his face; most Naras don't have any other expression other than their laid-back and lazy ones.

"Tell me what happened on the village and why isn't Naruto back yet? He is late and he is trending on thin ice this time." Tsunade said that can be considered uncalled for but only Team Ten know that.

'Maybe Naruto was right about how the village looks down on him so much, they don't care if he was late because he was in trouble.' They all thought in their own mind tone while Ino added her own two cents to herself,

'I sure hope he finds that same person before he goes over the edge because of these inconsiderate and self-righteous bastards. We nearly became those ourselves, the jerks!' The Yamanaka heiress took a moment to look through the window that shown the village in pure view; all the people, houses and shops and even the sun makes one feel like looking all over the whole world from a secluded cliff side.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Naruto was looking for someone; someone who was actually worried about him enough to point out what everyone never realized. She knew that since he was a week late for his mission, Naruto was in trouble. He could understand that the village didn't want to let Hinata go to help him because she was worried. All that really escalated when he, at last, found what or better yet who he was looking for; an angel, a goddess just walking around in the streets with her hair blowing the wind like leaves on tree branches.

"Hello Hinata." Naruto wanted to break the silence and alerted the Hyuga into noticing that her crush was standing right next to her and even more handsome than she last saw him. But that wasn't on her mind that that split second when she instead charged into Naruto's embrace.

"Naruto-kun! I thought you were hurt! I was so worried!"

Naruto said nothing in response as he looked down on the girl with moonlight hair. He just remembered what Team Ten told him before arriving back in the village.

Flashback Begins:

"It was Hinata." Ino said plainly and yet Naruto didn't do a thing to respond until he started laughing.

"Nice to hear that but I am in no mood for jokes." Team Ten couldn't believe what they were hearing, "Come on. You know very well that Hinata will never have the courage to ask of such a thing and especially a certain Nara about to become a man and kill the one person who killed his teacher. You made sure that such things will never happen."

"WHAT!? YOU ARE SAYING THAT WE WERE RESPONDABLE FOR HINATA'S SHYNESS!?" Ino let it all out and Naruto just nodded,

"She had a crush on me for what reason?" That off topic but Naruto wasn't going to be reminded of that, "What did I do that caused you all to hate me but also Hinata to have a crush on me? It makes no sense unless you didn't want that to happen. You didn't want to have me become friends with Hinata."

"w-what?" Choji spoke this time around while even Ino couldn't find the words to that.

"Who saved Sakura from bullying but not Hinata?" Naruto asked, "Who left her to do things on her? Who never offered to hang out with here only to reject her? Who never helped her with her school work whatever she asked or not? I even asked her team, they never even did anything to get involved with helping her and it is all because you liked it that way."

"Shut up!" Ino shouted until she shown to be crying about this. Kakashi was still shocked as the rest in order to try and stop Naruto; he had learned that the hard way about the blond, Naruto never gives up until he succeeds at what he wants to do. "Okay! We were jealous of her and you! Okay!?" Naruto didn't say a word, he wanted to see everything. "You two had the better life than us spoiled brats, you were always so cool even when we were little; on how you kept smiling through all that pain you all felt but we were just not that brave. We wanted to be brave too but we also wanted to see how brave were the rest of you too; we had to keep you too apart."

Naruto had to sigh with all that breath he was holding in his mouth about how stupid this was. "That wasn't wise nor fair. All this was because you still thought that others were there to be played with?" The Chunin of the team just held their heads down because they had realized a little too late that they were too naïve about what was going one between Naruto and Hinata. "You all just do what you want but please leave Hinata out of it because you all know that she doesn't deserves any of this. I did things on my own for an entire week and I got a lot learned than in my whole life of waiting for others to help me and even with them in check."

Team Ten could see that Naruto's words were based on how convincing were his eyes that the blond needed no one to teach anymore. "I will do things on my own for now and starting with Hinata, because I had to relieve on others to clean up my messes so I will be the one doing the cleaning. You get me?"

That was determination in his voice but if anyone would have taken the time to notice that Shikamaru's eyes had bitterness and resentment; no one did and for that, there will be consequences to happen for sure.

Flashback Ends!

"It is okay Hinata-chan. I am not going anywhere, I will never leave you all alone again." Naruto whispered to her ear which made her tightened her hold on her crush like he was going to fade away if she let go of him. "You can tell your sensei that her lover has been avenged."

Hinata just nodded and settled down enough to halt her tears; now she just wanted to stay where she was. Naruto didn't complain because he was going to lose the one thing he always wanted, more than friends and more than some cool 'Jutsu'; someone who actually wanted to be with him.

Now the only problem for Naruto will be to explain to Shikamaru why the object of the latter's mission instead went to the former and got finished off before they were ready to leave the village. We can only hope everyone can handle the worst to come.

XXXXX

And yet the worst is about to come but like always, bad things happen first.

"So that is it? You actually fought the Zombie Brothers!? The ones that slain Asuma and nearly killed Team Ten!?" Tsunade was briefing Naruto on what happened but it wasn't her who was angry with how things turned out to be. It was the blonde himself.

"I have told you that five times already and you still haven't explained that you haven't at least sent someone to scold me for talking my 'sweet time' with my mission while I was trying to lose those two jerks!" Naruto yelled with his veins clearly showing and even his skin was like pink red from his steaming temper. "And all this time you were just trying to convince everyone to get off of Team Ten's back about confronting the Zombie Brothers! Why didn't you even notice that I was late for my mission? You really are harsh you know that!?"

"I had other things to do too and every other Shinobi was busy!" Tsunade was the type to get angry because someone was doubting their decisions or authority. Naruto was just too resentful and angry to even finch unlike everyone else.

"So I was just a loose end, cannon fodder that no one will ever notice to be missing!? Ever!?" Naruto just wanted to get to the point but it was clear that he was getting nowhere with this conversation.

"Naruto! You will not speak to me like that!?" Tsunade had finally snapped and yet she didn't move to strike the blonde. All she did was witness a disturbing vision of the Kyubi suddenly in the room, looking down on the Hokage like his latest prey.

"I speak in any way I wish. I have found out that I was given this very important mission so I gave it all I got. But then I ran into two S-class rogue Shinobi that are after my kind." Naruto then spoke in a demonic tone. It was like the Kyubi was speaking instead. "I spent a good week overdue just to try and lose them for the ANBU or the 'avenging' Team Ten. But no one ever came and when was in a corner, with nowhere to run and hide it out, I fought like a cornered animal. I am a Shinobi."

"B-but…y-you s-should h-have k-known b-better t-than…" Tsunade tried to argue back but the heavy and uneasy atmosphere had made it very difficult to eve stop the stuttering.

"I did know better. You think that I was lying? That I tried to get the drop on the Zombie Brothers to impress oh I don't know Haruno-san?" Naruto retorted, "I didn't! I didn't battle them so I will get anything! I was out there all alone and tried to make it out until reinforcements came! And instead, they kept getting better and better at finding me! Will you still run when you are in that situation?"

"I am nothing like you!" Tsunade then shouted when she finally felt like she was breaking through all this KI.

"Oh but we are both Shinobi, no matter the gap between us are right?" Naruto said, not changing his mood at all. "And will you still run if that meant allowing them to enter the village? Not that it isn't hard to find this place."

"That is outside the point!"

"The point is that I shouldn't have spent a good week trying to make sure the Zombie Brothers will just focus on me and no one and nothing else! If I wasn't like myself than I would have been dead and the two will be far out of the country!" Naruto shouted at Tsunade who actually cringed and sank into her seat. "I am tired of this pointless conversation Tsunade, like I am tired of everyone treating me the way they do. I am going to be a Shinobi even if I will have to go between villages. And if I do then I have someone coming with me, whatever you will allow it or not."

"Naruto…" Tsunade tried to speak up but failed.

"I have had it with these gifts that you call blessings, I call them curses. Every single one of them and now I have a vengeful heir that wants me dead since he was too lazy to look after me." Naruto then calmed down and sounded more like a human. "But make no mistake, my friendship just needs one bad push until we are sworn enemies. And whatever happens to trigger that will be your justification since Shikamaru belongs to you."

And then Naruto went up and disappeared in a spiral, leaving Tsunade to ponder all this in peace and quiet. But those two words are not going to help describe how things in the village are going to be like.

XXXXX

Later, Shikamaru was not having a good day. His mind that was usually cool and confident while lazy was clouded. Clouded with feelings that he couldn't rid himself of. It was like he had spent weeks of working himself to the ground for something only to find out someone else had arrived with much deeper wallet and bought them before he could. "And to think that all the times I noticed Naruto was late, I just thought he was wasting time on a bowl of Ramen."

And yet the more Shikamaru tried to iron this out with logic, reasoning and his vast knowledge, the more of a headache he got. No matter how the Nara looked at all this; there were only two things that made sense to him. One, the Zombie Brothers were both defeated and slain and it wasn't by him at all. Shikamaru couldn't even get even with the one mostly responsible for Asuma Sarutobi being killed off. And second, Naruto claimed to have tried to lose the two and leave the pair for Shikamaru. But to the Nara, it sounded like Naruto gave up on running away and made it as an excuse to kill them himself.

"But there is only one way to know." Shikamaru said and he left his usual spot to watch clouds. All the way to finding Naruto innocently practicing in a training field. "Only one way indeed."

XXXXX

Meanwhile, the other members of Team Ten with Kakashi were at their favorite place to eat with Asuma still around. And yet that famous BBQ place just wasn't feeling the same. Without Asuma's smoke or whining to Choji's over eating, the place was too fresh and too quiet. In fact, Choji was just toying with a peace of BBQ with his chopsticks.

"What is wrong Choji? You love your BBQ no matter the mood." Kakashi said from his seat and the bigger-than-life heir just sighed.

"Without Sensei or Shikamaru, it is just not the same. It feels not full and incomplete." Choi said in a serious tone. "And whenever I am with Shikamaru, he just talks about how unfair Naruto had made his life for. The last time I tried to brighten the mood by getting Shika focused on something else, he just snapped at me."

Ino just squeezed his shoulder to be a good teammate for Choji who was about to shed a tear. "I am sure that everything will be just fine. It is just Naruto's own fault for being so insensitive…" Ino started to say but,

"IT IS YOU WHO IS BEING INSENSITIVE!" Choji shouted at Ino that got her to gasp in shock. "Naruto never lied to me or anyone else. That much I know about him! If he said that he was trying to stall the pair for us then we should have been better friends and understood that Naruto was about to be cornered and we only complain about it!"

"That is enough Choji." Kakashi was always trying to be the peacekeeper but Choji won't have it.

"Now it is not Hatake!" Choji retorted which got everyone present at his table to freeze. "We should have noticed that Naruto was missing but instead we were Chunin preparing to die at the hands of a S-rank Rogue Shinobi pair all because Shikamaru will never let us do otherwise! I just wanted to be clear that we were still friends and instead, everyone told me that I was wasting days of my life! How could that be true, to say being a friend is just a waste of time!?"

"Shut up!" Kakashi snapped and Choji flinched while Ino was like a ghost with her expression. "I don't know what to think of this and your whines and complaining just isn't helping!" Kakashi yelled at the still sensitive soul that Choji is. "I am trying to do what is best for the team that one of my friends trained and you are saying that I was doing it all wrong!? How dare you!" Kakashi ranted on but before they escalate, there was this that shook the entire BBQ restaurant,

"WHY!?"

XXXXX

"WHY!?" After zooming ahead, it was revealed to be Shikamaru himself, against Naruto! "You should have ran back to the village when you had the chance! You should have known that I wanted to kill them for what they did to my teacher! So why did you…?"

"Like I told my old teacher over two years ago in the country of Wave. There was no way for a Genin like me to outrun an A-rank rogue Shinobi and the same can be said about the Zombie Brothers that are both S-rank criminals!" Naruto retorted with the two of them in a fierce tug and push war with their Kunai grinning against each other.

"You could have used your stupid Kage Bunshin to lose them then! You are so stupid!" Shikamaru yelled and with a burst of unseen strength, managed to send Naruto flying a few meters and into the ground. And after kicking Naruto's kunai away, Shikamaru used his shadow to bond Naruto the ground. All the while, he got onto the blonde's chest and readied his Kunai for the killing stroke.

But when this blonde started to glow brightly, Shikamaru knew that he needed to bolt. Only that he wasn't quick enough to get out of the way of an explosion caused by the Bunshin Daibakuha. Just another technique that Naruto learned but won't tell where.

"Another hint that you have no idea what you are talking about!" Shikamaru couldn't prepare himself for when Naruto appeared behind him with a mean punch to the cheek. "Of course I used Kage Bunshin. But that trick could only fool them for so long and pretty soon, it won't work anymore on them; all it took was a single day!"

Naruto looked pissed that Shikamaru, one of the smartest people the blonde knows personally, was actually so irrational. All the Nara ever did was try to make Naruto feel guilt for being 'stupid' while 'stealing his vengeance'. "Look Nara. I am as angry as you are, just not at the same thing. Just the same amount. I am angry that the village saw me as someone you won't even care if he went missing for a month. And why did Hinata had to be ignored because she was the only one worried!?"

"Because you made her worry! You should have been there for her!" Shikamaru looked like a madman now.

"And you should have been there for your own girl! At least I am working to make up for a week of worry while you have three years to make clear to Temari's feelings!" Naruto shouted and had to dodge Shikamaru's shadow again.

"That is random and irrelevant! We are not talking about that girl from Suna!" Naruto scowled even more, if it was possible, at the Nara talking like this.

"We are talking about how we both like girls that feel for us suffer instead! Why should anyone laugh at a person in love!?" Naruto shouted but seeing that Shikamaru's answer was another attempt with his shadow. "Fine! Just tell me one thing to be clear for sure!"

"What is it?" Shikamaru said, looking for another opportunity.

"Why did Asuma act a lot like Sasuke Uchiha and repeated history? All I heard was him thinking that since he was going to do it for a friend that he couldn't fail. Did your teacher think like that!?" Naruto brought to it in the least amount of detail as possible.

"Asuma-sensei was in the right unlike Uchiha! He was going to avenge a friend and not himself!" Shikamaru shouted with insane ignorance and mindless loyalty. And Naruto was not impressed or satisfied, at all.

"And what was your teacher thinking of challenging them when you had no idea what their powers were!? All he took against two Kage level Shinobi was himself a bunch of Chunin!" Naruto shouted; it did make sense that Asuma thought that only a single Jonin and a bunch of Chunin will take down two S-rank rogue Shinobi. It was just like when Naruto was sent with a bunch of Genin and a single Chunin against a group of Jonin-level Shinobi.

"That is why Asuma got killed! Because he never thought of his team, or his wife or even you! All he ever cared was his smoking and getting personal vengeance! Just like all the traitors of our history! Your teacher was no different than Orochimaru or Madara Uchiha!" Naruto shouted and that was the breaking point.

"LIAR!"

End of Chapter 5.

*I can't believe that I got this chapter finished after all these months of focusing on other stories! It took long enough!*