Guilty

It was a beautiful afternoon back in the Hidden Village of Konoha. The sun was starting to disappear when a certain blonde chunnin could be seen on the horizon carrying what appeared to be a bloodied black haired human being, after one of the worst fights both had in years. Naruto and Sasuke were locked in a war like battle and Naruto had to resort to a S ranked ninjutsu, later labeled as an kinjutsu by the Godaime Hokage because of the danger towards the user's arm and almost killed Sasuke, if it wasn't for the curse seal inside his body.

Kakashi and Sakura were walking near the gate, talking about Sakura's improve at medical jutsus, when they stared wide eyed at the scene in front of them. Naruto appeared in front of the west gate, carrying none other than the Uchiha Sasuke, as they ran towards him with at first happy faces seeing their teammates coming back home.

"Sakura, Kakashi-sensei I made it, I brought Sasuke back just like I promised I would." – Smiled Naruto, panting a little bit from almost chakra exhaustion.

"I can see that Naruto you did it, but how did you manage to beat him?" - Asked Kakashi, though he was analyzing Sasuke's exterior for any visible wounds that would answer the question. He didn't need to use his sharingan to notice some slash and deep cuts on Sasuke's body, showing the usage of fuuton level chakra.

"Fuuton Rasenshuriken; it was my only hope Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke is a true genius, he managed to create a raiton jutsu where he channels the energy of a lightning falling from the sky and contains it with his bare hands. It was a matter of live and death, I had to use that technique" - Explained Naruto with vigor, since he knew it was a kinjutsu he just used.

"He was able to contain the energy of a lightining on his hands, quite impressive. It seems similar to my Raikiri, but from Naruto described it's even stronger?" – Wondered Kakashi as he was trying to improve the raikiri for quite a while now and it seemed that the Uchiha genius surpassed him with raiton jutsus.

While Kakashi and Naruto were talking about the battle they had, Sakura was examining the young Uchiha and it looked like she was astonished at the damage of his intern organs and bones. It seemed like Sasuke was cut in multiple places and traces of fuuton chakra could be sensed near him as if one deadly technique did this to him. Sakura now remembered about a jutsu that Naruto was able to add fuuton chakra to the rasengan making it an S ranked ninjutsu, declared kinjutsu by Tsunade because of the fact that damaged the opponent to a cellular level as well as almost dissipated Naruto's arm in the process if it weren't for the kyuubi's power.

"Naruto, you baka, what did you do to him? His organs and bones are badly damaged, it's a miracle he's still alive, tell me what did you do to him?" – Demanded Sakura for Naruto to tell her, just so that she could deliver a chakra infused punch at his face for dare hurting Sasuke-kun like that.

"I used the same technique that I used at the akatsuki member Kakusu, called Fuuton Rasenshuriken." – Explained Naruto with strangely little concern towards the pink haired teammate, since he no longer had anything to do with her, except for the fact that she was her teammate.

"Were you trying to kill him, Naruto? That technique dilacerated Kakuzu from what I heard. Why would you resort to something like that unless you wanted to kill him?" – Right now she was screaming instead of just opening her mouth as well as channeling chakra to her fist so as to just wait for the answer and punch him scare in the face.

"The way i see it, he's alive and the fact that he would've killed me with his raiton technique had i not used mine, pretty much justifies my choice of action" - Said Naruto as he got up and now was in a relaxed position while his chakra was being refilled. However, Sakura was far from understanding her teammate's explanation, as her emotions were getting hard to control. The amount of damage to Sasuke's body just ser her on edge and she just couldn't believe Naruto would do this much level of damage to their once teammate.

"You almost killed him with that technique, Naruto. It's a miracle that his body was able to withstand the damage" - Observed Sakura, while indirectly accusing Naruto on going overvoard and try to kill Sasuke by using the disguise of trying to save him. However Naruto took that hint and became immediately angry.

"He is alive, goddamit, what else do you want from me, Sakura? He used the two level curse seal, used a raiton jutsu that if it hit me, I would be toasted and now here you are taking his side like I was the bad guy of the whole situation. In case you don't know, Sasuke already tried to kill me once, this would be his second attempt, had I didn't use my technique." - Said Naruto, trying to reason with the damn banshee.

"You did try to kill him. Curse you Naruto, I'll tell Tsunade-sama about this, you'll be out of shinobi duty. You used a kinjutsu on a fellow shinobi of the leaf."

"Go ahead, Sakura. Tell her; tell her what I did. Tell her that I brought back a nuke-nin and not any one, Konoha' precious Uchiha and tell her that you threatened a leaf shinobi by channeling chakra through your fist in order to punch me. Sakura, Sasuke is no leaf shinobi, he made that clear when he left. But if you wanted your precious so much, do what you feel like. I'm heading home, I need a shower". – Said Naruto as he vanished leaving Kakashi and Sakura carrying a hurt Sasuke towards the Hokage's office.

By this time, every villager knew that the 'demon' almost killed the last Uchiha and they were demanding his head on a platter. After a while, two chunnins told Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi that the Hokage needed to talk to them, regarding Naruto's S ranked mission in order to capture Sasuke and if not possible, kill him.

===At Tsunade's office===

In the office, there was Tsunade next to Sakura and Shizune asking Naruto to give them the mission report of his mission. Naruto described the mission, more specifically about how he and Sasuke were fighting equally, both using elemental ninjutsu to the extreme when Sasuke transformed to the Cursed Seal Level Two and started rushing at Naruto with intent to kill. After Naruto managed to kick Sasuke on the stomach, Sasuke went flying, with chakra channeled through his feet. Last, Naruto told that Sasuke used a ultimate raiton jutsu that focused on a actual lightning and would throw at him. So, Naruto used his fuuton rasenshuriken and won the battle, bringing him back.

"Tsunade-sama, Naruto should be punished because he tried to kill a fellow konoha shinobi. He even used a kinjutsu against a fellow shinobi, there is no excuses for such an act". – Said Sakura, earning deadly stares from Naruto who by now was cursing himself for all those times in the past when he thought he had a crush on her.

"Sakura, for all I know, Sasuke is a missing-nin, because he ran off Konoha, leaving Naruto no penalty, regarding possible murder intent towards the Uchiha traitor. But Naruto, I see that your rasenshuriken doesn't hurt your arm anymore. So, since you molded the technique with better control, I'll take the rasenshuriken from the kinjutsu scroll" - Smiled Tsunade, waving Sakura's attempts for her master to punish the blond for what he did to her Sasuke-kun.

"Yes, since my chakra control is better, I could do the technique without damaging my arm. However, my arm while isn't badly injured, it suffered little but present pain, I need to have better chakra control for the technique to work without any danger on my body."

"Tsunade-sama, h…" – Began to talk Sakura, but was interrupted from Naruto who decided that a little facts had to be said to the pink banshee.

"Sakura, at first I thought you were a nice person, but after this I realized that you're just a stupid fan girl that, even though Sasuke dumped you several times, you still protect him. I expected a lot better coming from you, but I guess I was wrong. Tsunade-sama, if you don't need anything, can I get some rest, I need a shower."

"You're dismissed, Naruto, good job". – Said Tsunade, smiling from the outside and wondering about the 'baa-chan' that Naruto used to call her which apparently got to her nerves, but now that he didn't say it, she felt like she wanted him to call him 'baa-chan', well at least not call her Hokage-sama.

When Naruto vanished from sight, Kakashi looked at Sakura with such pity and also shunshined to meet Naruto.

===With Naruto===

Naruto was walking through the village thinking about the fight as well as the look of hatred that the villagers and, surprisingly, some shinobi who worshipped the Uchiha bloodline. Well, they already had that look towards him because of his burden, but such look was filled with hate now, apart from the apathy look from before, when people didn't even consider his existence as one of them. After some pace walking, Naruto's eyes caught a glimpse of sight which long ago managed to get to his heart like no one had done before. They were bright red eyes, which looked like two roses sparkling with beauty. The eyes belonged to none other than the genjutsu mistress of Konoha, Yuhhi Kurenai.

For a minute there, Naruto just stared at her like he saw an angel in front of him. Such eyes managed to pierce through his soul and he instantly forgot every piece of negative emotions about Sasuke and Sakura's bickering for a moment. He wished he could look at them forever and just dies happily. Meanwhile, Kakashi had arrived alongside him and witnessed that Naruto was checking Kurenai with some intent look on his face.

"Why are you looking at her, Naruto?"

"Ah, Kakashi-sensei, I didn't notice you there. Well, I was just remembering something from my training with Jiraya-sensei, that's all."

"I see. Well, don't look too much at her, Asuma might be jealous."

"Why would he be jealous of this?"

"Haven't you know? They are together, yeah, since you left to retrieve Sasuke. Asuma asked her out one time and she agreed to it. Personally, I don't see why she agreed to it, but what can I do anyway." – Said Kakashi in order to study Naruto's behavior and run damage control if needed be. He knew that Naruto had a thing with the genjutsu mistress one time, from what he heard from Jiraya.

"Oh, ok, then. Well, Kakashi-sensei, I'm heading home, see ya." – Said Naruto, trying to hide his emotions, upon seeing that the angel that he saw was with another guy, a jounin named Sarutobi Asuma.

"See ya Naruto" – Said Kakashi as he stared at Naruto's back from quite some time. He remembered Jiraya telling him about Naruto's encounter with Kurenai. Kakashi felt pity on the boy. Kurenai was known as the 'ice queen of Konoha' for a good reason.

===At Naruto's apartment===

When Naruto arrived at his apartment, he immediately went to the bathroom and took a nice warm shower. As he was letting the hot water clean any battle signs on his body, he was thinking of what Kakashi told him about Kurenai and Asuma. Since no one was looking, he didn't need to hide his emotions anymore and just did what every man in his position did when was cheated…he cried…he sobbed…his angel wasn't his anymore. After shower, he went straight to bed, thinking about Kurenai's decision in being with another person.

===On the next day===

Naruto woke up and started making breakfast when suddenly he heard a knock on the door. When he opened the door, an ANBU was there with a note for him to attend at Tsunade's office right away. Naruto changed his clothes and quckly put his chunnin vest (AN: In this fic, Naruto became chunnin at the age of fourteen, when he was at Kumo, training fuuton jutsus. They held a little tournament and Naruto won, being nominated to chunnin by Kumo who sent a letter to Tsunade, asking to promote Naruto as a chunnin. Tsunade, after receiving the letter from Kumo and picked Naruto's results at the last chunnin exam and she noticed that Naruto managed to beat Hyuuga Neji and prevented Shukaku from destroying Konoha, so she upgraded him to chunnin, sending a slug summon to find Naruto and give the news with his chunnin vest), jumping through rooftops to arrive. At Tsunade's office, Naruto spotted Kakashi there as well and assumed that he was going to a mission with Kakashi-sensei.

"Naruto, enter. I have a matter of extreme importance that involved your last mission. You see, the council had the same thought as Sakura and they're accusing you of trying to kill the Uchiha bastard. Here is a petition to dismiss you from active shinobi duty from trying to harm a shinobi of the leaf."

"Hm. Figured. Just because the Uchihas were a respected clan, they have these privileges. So, what will be your decision, Tsunade-sama?" – Asked Naruto, not showing any signs of anger or any negative emotions, much to the dismay and surprise of the blond hokage, who was expecting a huge scream of anger coming out of Naruto, maybe even hearing some shouts along the way, but none came.

"In my opinion, Sasuke is considered a missing-nin because of his treason to Konoha. Therefore, if any ANBU or a Konoha Jounin were to encounter him, they would try and kill him on the spot. Since you are a Konoha shinobi, you were acting with all powers to do just that, so you are in nowhere guilty for your actions towards the Uchiha traitor. Leave it to me, Naruto, I'll handle the council"

"Tsunade-sama, I have a request to ask of you" - Asked Naruto, as he thought about it after getting out of the shower last night. He needed something to take him away from all the pain. First, his fight against Sasuke, then Sakura protecting the Uchiha over him. Lastly but way more painful was seeing Kurenai, the love of his life with another man. He needed to get away and he knew what he had to do.

"What is it?" - Asked Tsunade, though she was suspicious of Naruto's body reactions or rather lack of one.

"If possible, I would like to join as a member of the Anbu." – Said Naruto earning looks from the Hokage and Kakashi.

Now, both Kakashi and Tsunade were astonished to say the least. They did not expect this coming from Naruto. The blond was always the cheerful being with the happy smile on his face, but now what they saw was nothing but a fragment of that being. Once Tsunade asked of the reason why he wanted to be a part of ANBU, he simply stated that 'he needed to get away from all the pain he suffered yesterday and to forget a certain someone'. Kakashi had a hint of who that person would be and wasn't surprise to see that his ex-student was suffering.

"Naruto, is that what you want, so I'll grant your wish. Just give me what mask would you be willing to wear to hide your identity?"

"BLACK WOLF".

"Black Wolf? Why black?

"Except from you Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Jiraya and Tsunade-sama, I'm all alone in this world. The black wolf is a sign of my personality. Wolves usually travel in packs, but there is always one of them that travels alone but is feared by most, that's what I want to be from now on, a LONE WOLF."

Tsunade and Kakashi were studying some hint of emotions coming from Naruto and couldn't find any. Suddenly, both of them came to realize that after looking focused to his eyes, they could see the feral grin coming from inside him. Each of them shaked a little at the sight of those eyes. If one were to look deep into his eyes, one could see a mixture with deep blue and a feral yellow color that could show what a nightmare really meant. If Naruto were to use the Kyuubi's power, even Orochimaru would piss in his pants right now.

"Black Wolf it is, then. Please attend at ANBU headquarters for your clothes and your test."

"Test?"

"Yeah, they will test you to see to what area you'll be directed to. You see ANBU is divided in five areas: Tracking, Medical team, Assassination, Demolition and First Response Team. As the names of each of them suggests, I'm sure you know which is which. I would assume you would be a part of First Response Team, since you showed aspects of every kind of mission, but I can't assign ANBU teams, that's their competence."

"Arigato, Tsunade-sama." – Said Naruto as he left through the door, leaving a shocked Tsunade and a surprised Kakashi. Now, Naruto went to a training ground in order to train his other affinity, which appeared after he came back from killing Kakuzu. Suddenly, a brunette kunoichi was passing by when her eyes noticed the blond shinobi going away. Instantly, tears started to fall from her face. She was feeling guilty of the fact that she abandoned him, because of his age, but right now she was ashamed of what she did to Asuma and Naruto. After Naruto left to retrieve Sasuke, she started having second thoughts of staying with him since he was younger, so she agreed to date Asuma. But after some thought, she figured that the way Naruto was to her, she felt like he was the one for her and not Asuma.