Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ After the Dream ❯ Tomorrow ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Tomorrow

Several hours after the demonstration a severely exhausted Uzumaki Naruto was still at his training grounds. He had been there ever since he had walked away from Tsunade, he knew Genma was leaning against a tree watching him but he paid the man no heed. He was almost completely exhausted of chakra so he was training without jutsus. The log in front of him had a number of dents several inches thick as he continued to punch and kick the hours away.

He looked up briefly during a slight pause and noticed that the sky was growing dark. He ignored this and continued attacking the log in front of him. He would have preferred a real person to beat the shit out of, especially that jackass from the academy who had called him dobe.

He had almost lost it then and there. He couldn't figure out which he wanted to do more: breakdown and cry or kick that kid's ass, which is of course why he settled for saying nothing. He had learned over the past months under Jiraiya's tutelage that sometimes it was smarter to just stay quiet. That and there were a number of shinobi who would have stopped him from attacking and crying wasn't allowed.

His current state of mind had caused him to seek refuge. This was why, despite his body's protests, he was still standing several hours later. This was why he had refused to go back to the village afterwards, if he had seen any glares at that time he would have broken down in the middle of the street.

Genma was so busy watching Naruto that he failed to notice someone walking up behind him. “Tsunade mentioned that I might find you here.” Genma turned when heard the voice and found himself looking at everyone's favorite absentee Jounin, Hatake Kakashi. He scoffed for a moment before turning back around to look at Naruto suspiciously. He didn't think the kid would pull the same stunt again, but considering his current mental state one could never be too sure.

“What did Gai say when you told him about Sakura's reaction the day after the attack?” He said turning back around to face Kakashi. The Jounin looked bewildered for a moment, before looking at Naruto and laughing. After a moment he looked back up at Genma and answered, “The day after the attack I was gone on a mission, however I did speak to Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, and Naruto's `babysitters' as Tsunade called you all several hours after the attack. When I mentioned that Sakura flinched Gai said something stupid and flowery about the brilliance of youth and mistakes clouding it. Something like that it isn't like I actually listen to him half the time anyway.” Genma snorted and turned back to Naruto, “You pass.”

“Why exactly did I need to pass a test? I mean I'm assuming Naruto tried to trick you or something but…” Kakashi trailed off not really knowing what else to say. Genma glanced at him over his shoulder once before responding, “He combined Kage Bunshin and Henge to try and convince me that I could leave.” Kakashi chuckled slightly at his students antics, “At least he was in a good enough mood to play a prank.”

Genma looked at him oddly for a moment before shrugging and turning around. The two watched for about ten minutes as Naruto continued to pound away at the log still oblivious to Kakashi's presence. After the silence began annoying him Genma looked down at his watch, he looked back up at Naruto and said, “Alright its five till lets head back.”

Naruto ignored Genma and continued pounding away. Kakashi quirked an eyebrow when he noticed a slight increase in the rate of the pounding. Genma sighed and took grumbled, “Honestly, how is this kid still standing?”

Kakashi laughed at him and said, “I'll make sure he gets home, I needed to talk to him anyways.” Genma glanced up at him for a moment. “I swear... I'll even take responsibility for keeping him out late.” After a moment Genma nodded and turned around to walk away. “By the way, Anko's looking for you. She has a few questions,” he called out as he disappeared.

XXXXXXXXX

Kakashi sighed and turned back around to watch Naruto. When he had taken his mission report in Tsunade had mentioned that the rookies had had a tiring day. She had also mentioned that Naruto's had been the roughest. As he was leaving he had asked where he could find him and she had said training. He shook his head as he watched the boy in front of him.

This wasn't training, training was Naruto and Sasuke grinning like idiots and trying to beat the shit out of each other as they darted around the training field. Training was the three of them hanging up side down from trees for several hours to practice chakra control. Training was Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto coming up with new ways to gain the bells.

What Naruto was currently doing was self inflicted torture. Genma probably hadn't noticed but his hands were bleeding. His heavy breathing was as much from emotional exhaustion as it was physical. Naruto was trying to push something out of his head. He was trying to prove something to someone. The blond was always dedicated but he only worked himself this hard if something was wrong.

It was like that time in wave country. To prove that there were heroes Naruto worked himself for days on end perfecting his chakra control. He would come back to the house bruised and on the verge of collapsing but he would smile at Inari as if saying “Told ya so.” The grin on his face as they left wave country had been worth it. In the end Naruto had proved that heroes existed.

As he watched Naruto he realized that he wasn't trying to prove something to others so much as himself. He was trying to prove that he was strong. Something had happened while he had been gone that Tsunade must have failed to mention. When he had left Naruto had had hope; now the hope wasn't there at least not hope for himself. The kid completely disregarded all of his own pain for something.

After several minutes of thinking and watching his student harm himself he decided to interfere. He put on a grin and disappeared from where he had been standing only to reappear in a puff a smoke on top of the log Naruto was hitting. “Yo!” he said in greeting. Naruto looked up at him blinking several times before he turned back to pulverizing the log. Kakashi looked down at him in confusion, usually Naruto would at least yell at him for scaring him or something.

He frowned for a moment before jumping down and landing next to Naruto. He caught one of the boy's hands before he could hit the log and used it turn Naruto to face him. “What's going on?” he asked. Naruto glared up at him catching Kakashi slightly off guard. It was enough to cause him to loosen his grip.

Naruto took his chance and freed his hand; he then turned back and returned to his initial task of decimating the evil log in front of him. Kakashi watched him for a moment before deciding drastic measures were necessary. He pulled up his forehead protector exposing his left eye. He leaned over and gave Naruto a fairly menacing look while forcing the boy to look at him. Naruto froze.

Kakashi took this opportunity to move him several feet away from the log. Once he knew he would be able to keep Naruto's attention he placed his forehead protector back over his eye and bent over to look at Naruto.

He had already decided that the kid looked like shit. He was bruised and his hands weren't the only thing bleeding. His clothes were torn in several places and Kakashi suddenly noticed the absence of his trademark orange jacket. He also noticed how tired Naruto looked. Not just because he had pushed himself to hard that day, this type of exhaustion took several days to set in.

Once the sharingan was gone from sight Naruto slowly came back to the present. He instinctively looked down at his feet but Kakashi brought his head back up to face him. “What happened when I was gone?” Kakashi finally asked.

Naruto looked to the side refusing to look into his sensei's face. “Sakura-chan's parents were killed coming back from a mission. She found out the day you left on your mission.” The Jounin's visible eye widened significantly and he had to resist the urge to curse Tsunade for not telling him about it the minute she had seen him, or at least before he had taken off in search of Naruto. “How is she?” he finally asked.

Naruto still wouldn't look at him and his shrug was barely visible in the growing darkness. Kakashi sighed once, “When was the last time you saw her?” Naruto looked up at him answered, “Today at the demonstrations.”

“I meant before that,” Kakashi said looking straight at his student. Naruto looked back down and mumbled something, Kakashi only heard because he was used to Naruto trying to hide things this way. “Almost three weeks. Wonderful Naruto,” he muttered looking down at his student.

With that he straightened up and turned around pulling Naruto out of the clearing along with him.

XXXXXXXXX

Naruto followed Kakashi blindly as the two walked on. When he felt his sensei stop he looked and noticed that they were at the memorial stone. He sent his teacher a questioning glance. “I'll have to go see Sakura tomorrow, but for tonight I can at least pay my respects to her parents,” Kakashi said answering Naruto's unspoken question.

After several minutes he stepped back from the memorial stone and looked down at Naruto. “Have you already been here?” he asked procuring a nod from his blond student. “How many people were at the funeral?” he asked innocently. When he received no answer from Naruto his eyes widened slightly and he covered his only visible eye with his hand. “You didn't go.” he stated not even bothering to ask whether or not it was the truth.

Naruto's gaze remained fixed on his feet. “Why on earth didn't you go Naruto?” he asked leaning down in an attempt to look into his student's eyes. Naruto turned away in order to avoid Kakashi's scrutiny, his teacher was stunned when he noticed that Naruto was on the verge of tears.

A sudden thought made Kakashi cringe, “Naruto…,” he said as gently as possible, “how did they die?” If he hadn't been studying his student intently he would have missed the boy whisper his answer, “Kisame.” With his fears realized, Naruto's behavior suddenly made much more sense. “You didn't go because you blame yourself,” he said quietly causing Naruto to try harder not only to avoid Kakashi's gaze but also to stop the tears he had been fighting for some time.

Kakashi placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder causing the Gennin to look up at him in confusion. Kakashi gazed at the stone for a moment before turning back to Naruto and crouching down forcing the blond to look down at him. “When I was twelve I lead my first mission as a Jounin. My sensei accompanied us part of the way before splitting off for his side mission. My teammates Rin and Obito accompanied me under my command,” he said making sure Naruto was paying attention.

Naruto was gazing at Kakashi curiously with some shock mixed in. “Not far into the mission we encountered enemy Nins. At the time we were at war with Hidden Stone, our mission was to get behind enemy lines - sabotage - we got caught and they took Rin. My decision was to leave her, our mission was more important.” At this statement Naruto's eyes grew wide and Kakashi actually laughed before he continued, “I was nothing like what I am today. Obito yelled at me and broke my orders; he went after Rin. After a few minutes his words sunk in and I followed as well. We managed to save Rin but during a fight with the Nins I lost my eye,” he said pointing to his left eye where the Sharingan was covered. Naruto looked at him in silence while digesting what his teacher was telling him. In truth he had never heard his sensei speak this much.

When Kakashi was satisfied that Naruto was still following he spoke again. “One of the Nins used a jutsu that caused a cave in. We ran for the exit but a rock hit me in my blind spot. Obito pushed me out of the way but he was hit by a boulder. Before he died he gave me the sharingan that he had awoken just minutes before.” Naruto looked up at him in shock. “His last request was that I look after Rin.”

Kakashi looked at Naruto a minute before going on, “After the mission a lot of people blamed me for what happened, and I agreed with them. I blamed myself so much that I didn't go to his funeral. I cut myself off. I trained harder, eventually joined ANBU. I kept my promise and looked after Rin but I had ignored Obito's words.” He looked straight into Naruto's eyes as he said the next part. “What Obito said to me? What convinced me to go back after them? He said `those in the ninja world who break the rules and regulations are called trash but that those who don't care about their companions are even worse than trash'. He said `if I'm that kind of trash I'll break the rules. If that's not being a true Shinobi then I'll crush that idea of a Shinobi.'”(1)

Naruto could only stare at Kakashi completely shocked by what he was telling him. “Obito was a lot like you. He pushed Rin and me constantly. He made us rethink what we had been taught. It's because of him that I was able to teach the three of you. I couldn't be prouder of how strong you've grown. But in doing so you've isolated yourself.” He made sure Naruto was looking straight at him and paying attention. The blond wasn't going to like what he had to say but someone had to tell him. “Sasuke made a mistake going after power the way he did. He abandoned you and Sakura and made the wrong choice.” He noticed that a small tear escaped Naruto's eye as he said that so he pushed on hoping for more of a reaction. “Right now you're making another wrong choice. You blame yourself for everything the Akatsuki is doing; you blame yourself for not stopping Sasuke.” Another tear slipped down to join the first, “You're using that blame and punishing yourself by pushing beyond your limits. You may be growing stronger to protect your friends but you're missing the point of doing so. A precious person you want to protect has to be allowed to protect you as well; you can't push your friends away because if you do then that strength is worth nothing.”

With that said Naruto crumbled. The tears were streaming down his face and his shoulders shook with silent sobs. His body finally gave in to its weariness as his legs collapsed under him. Kakashi reached out showing his kinder side and wrapped Naruto in a hug. He allowed the boy to cry, something he most likely hadn't really done in a number of years. After some time Naruto's sobs quieted and the boy stilled. Kakashi looked down and realized that blond had finally fallen asleep, something he probably should have done immediately after the demonstrations.

He smiled slightly and lifted Naruto up. He noticed with a good deal of concern that the boy seemed lighter than the last time he had carried him. With that last thought he took off for his student's apartment.

XXXXXXXXX

After he had put Naruto in bed Kakashi had removed himself to the rooftop across the street. From that position he had a good view of his student and he could take time to think.

Naruto's breakdown earlier was a sign that he had at least gotten through. He also knew that it might not cause a change in Naruto's behavior, especially not if something else happened to cause more guilt on his shoulders. He knew that Naruto would blame himself for the Akatsuki's moves no matter how much they drilled it in his head that he wasn't at fault.

As he watched his student sleep peacefully he thought back to a similar conversation that he had had with his sensei. It was odd actually; he had always thought Sasuke was a lot like him. Now after Sasuke had left Naruto was filling the void. It was like there was curse for Team 7s. Team 7s simply weren't meant to last. Hell, in Konoha's history only three Team 7s had ever even passed on to Gennin level. Other than the two teams he had been a part of the third had been the Sennin.

He had to restrain his anger when he thought about them. He could remember speaking with Sandaime about his team. The Hokage had said he should feel proud; that his team could very well become the next Sennin. Despite the pride he was supposed to feel he didn't necessarily believe that this was a good thing. Growing up he had heard his sensei talking about the Sennin. After all his sensei had been one of Jiraiya's prized pupils.

He remembered hearing about Tsunade's renowned medical ability. Her great heritage and everything she had done for the village's shinobi. He had always felt that much of that was over shadowed by her tragic story and losses. She had given into her despair and left the village for an indeterminate amount of time. He remembered hearing about Orochimaru's power. How the man was a genius. He also remembered passing the man in the street and being frightened, trying to ignore the fact that the great Snake Sennin was watching him. Orochimaru had never liked his sensei much. He remembered hearing about his departure and betrayal wondering how he could still be considered so great. He remembered hearing about the great Jiraiya. How the man managed to be such an obnoxious pervert and yet such a great shinobi had never made sense to him when he was younger. He remembered meeting the man for the first time, Jiraiya had called him a brat and his sensei had laughed. He remembered how the next time he had seen him was after Orochimaru's betrayal. No matter how much the man had pretended to laugh it was obvious that he was struggling. He left not long after that, like Tsunade it was with permission for an unspecified time span.

He hadn't wanted his team to turn out like them. He wouldn't have minded if they had gained the power and prestige. But he aimed to make sure they didn't gain the problems the older shinobi had gone through. He strove to make them a team, something that was stronger together than apart. Each of the Sennin had gained their title on their own, they may have been known as a team but he had never seen much teamwork out of them.

Of course he hadn't wanted them to turn out like his first team either. They had lost their third member when they twelve during a war. They had lost their sensei barely two years later when he died protecting the village. His Gennin students had already had enough problems when he began teaching them. He didn't want them to suffer more.

Unfortunately his students had suffered the same fate as the Sennin. Also unfortunately they were only twelve when it happened. Sasuke and Naruto had been targeted by powerful missing Nins. Sakura was involved because she didn't want to give up on either of her teammates. Sasuke had betrayed his teammates and left. Naruto had failed to retrieve him, not for lack of trying, and blamed himself for it. Sakura had lost her parents and was now trying to deal with that loss.

He turned away from Naruto's window and sighed heavily. Everything had been so messed up. He groaned and slowly made his way home, hoping that tomorrow he would be able to make it through to Naruto again. Hoping that this time it would have more of an impact.

XXXXXXXXX

If Kakashi had stayed around till morning he would have been very amused by the scene that was about to play out in the small apartment of Uzumaki Naruto. Pedestrians in the early morning quickly moved out of the way as a young pink haired Gennin made her way down the street. On her face she wore a very determined look; she paused momentarily and looked up at one of the windows before nodding and heading up the stairs of an apartment complex.

Sakura paused outside Naruto's door and took a deep breath before rapping smartly on the door and waiting for it to open. Several minutes later a very sleepy fox vessel pulled open the door, his eyes widened in shock when he saw who was standing on the threshold. After a moment he narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at her warily as he moved back and ushered her in. She smirked slightly and walked in looking around. She noted that his window had been replaced but other than that everything seemed the same as the last time she had been there. The day she learned at her parents had died. The day he had stopped talking to them.

She whirled around to find Naruto standing next to the door watching her cautiously. Normally it wouldn't come to this. Normally it was her that needed to be snapped out of some odd state. Occasionally it had been Sasuke, she avoided thinking about that and turned back to the matter at hand. Naruto had been pulling himself away, acting oddly. Not only did no one seem to know why, but they had also been unable to reach him at all. She didn't really care which goal she achieved that day but she would reach one.

“Sit,” she growled out. Naruto winced slightly at her voice before complying and slumping into one of the chairs at his table, his eyes never left her. She stared at him for several moments before finally deciding on the right words. “Kiba was right. You're a jackass,” there she had said it; maybe if he finally heard that voiced by someone else he would realize how true it was. Unfortunately Naruto just continued to look at her, the expression on his face said that he already knew it and didn't really know why she was telling him this.

“We're teammates. We may not be doing any missions anymore and we may not be studying under the same person any more but we are still teammates. I don't know why you're acting like this but it has to stop. You can't keep pushing us away like we're trash,” she continued trying to get more of a reaction out of him. He sat up slightly but continued watching her in silence.

She sighed and her shoulders slumped slightly put she quickly regained her resolve and went on, “I'm not going to bother yelling at you for not being around after my parents died. Whatever you know about that Kisame person has obviously been bothering you ever since you learned that he was the one that killed them.” She struggled not to cry, she hadn't spoken about her parents death since the day she had learned of it. “I'm not going to bother yelling at you for avoiding me afterwards. You obviously had a reason for trying to ignore me as much as possible.”

She looked back at him angrily and nearly shouted loosing her temper slightly, “But I can't stand the fact that you have so many people worried and you don't seem to care. The other Gennin ask about you almost constantly. Iruka-sensei and Tsunade-sama are worried sick about you. Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon look miserable without their `leader' and you don't give them any sign that you even acknowledge them. Yesterday at the matches you ignored all of us; you yelled at Tsunade and ignored the concern that everyone had for you.”

She looked at him with tears in her eyes. “I know you still care about us. You wouldn't have helped me beat Ino if you didn't. I don't know why you insist on acting like cold bastard who doesn't care. You're acting just like...” she faltered slightly before going on “You're acting just like Sasuke.” She finished looking at him sadly.

“I don't know why. I don't know if you're doing it on purpose or if you even realize that you are. It worries me because I already lost him. I can't loose you too.” He looked up at her and noticed that her eyes were shining with tears when she said the last part. She noticed a slight movement from him, yet he remained unresponsive. After several minutes of silence she sighed, “I have to go, if I don't make it in time for training with Tsunade she gets angry.”

She turned and walked towards the door. As she was about to close it behind her she heard Naruto speak up. “Kakashi-sensei returned last night,” he said in a voice that was almost too quiet to hear. She looked at him for another moment but he had obviously said all he planned on saying. She closed the door and walked out; hoping that something she had said would have an effect.

XXXXXXXXX

As Sakura walked down the street after training she was slightly distracted. She reached Naruto's apartment and knocked twice. After several minutes waiting she grew impatient and tried the doorknob, when she found it unlocked she let herself in. Naruto was staring out the window completely ignoring her. She scowled before walking over and smacking him on the head. “You could have at least yelled go away if you didn't want to see me,” she said.

“What do you want?” he asked quietly. She looked over at him for a moment shocked that he had spoken so soon after she came in. She shook her head and got straight to the point. “I just finished with Tsunade and was heading for lunch. I wanted to know if you wanted to get some ramen with me,” she chirped.

Naruto glanced over at her for a moment before turning back to the window and shaking his head in the negative. Sakura gaped; Naruto had just turned down ramen; he had just turned down eating ramen with her. This was severely disconcerting for the pink-haired Gennin; she lost her temper, “Then what are going to do instead, stand here and stare out the window all day.” Naruto shrugged, “They won't let me continue training until Jiraiya gets back so I guess that's what I'll do.”

She growled at his nonchalant response. “Why are you doing this?” she asked, “Why are acting like such a jack ass?” Naruto ignored her and remained unmoving at the window. “Please come with me?” she asked again. Naruto shook his head once more and didn't bother turning around when he heard the door slam shut.

XXXXXXXXX

Sakura was furious when she stormed out of Naruto's. She was fuming and not paying the least bit of attention to where she was walking. If she had been she may have caught snippets of the conversation taking place between the three Jounin outside the building. This would have stopped her from colliding with Anko who was mid-sentence.

“Kakashi, it's a simple… oof,” she said when someone hit her side. Anko, Kakashi and Genma looked down to see a rather dazed Sakura trying to figure out how she had ended up on the ground. After a minute she looked up sheepishly at the group and nervously scratched the back of her head. The action reminded them of a certain blond who had been the topic of discussion before they had been interrupted.

Kakashi sighed at the girl's behavior; his students were trading personalities. He wondered briefly what would happen next and had to force himself to keep a straight face at the thought of Sasuke coming back and developing a crush on Naruto. He quickly shook that thought out of his head.

Sakura's face brightened when she saw her former teacher in front of her. She grinned and stood up clasping her hands behind her and trying to look as adorable as possible. “Kakashi-sensei…umm,” she lightly chewed on her lip before looking at him pleadingly, “I was wondering if you could help me with something.” Kakashi looked at her oddly for a moment before his eye crinkled up in a grin, “That depends on what it is.”

“Well…you see I was just up to ask Naruto to go get some ramen with me.” Kakashi nodded once at her statement. “He said no.” Kakashi blinked at Sakura's blunt finish. His single visible eye revealed that he was in serious thought for a moment. “He said no to ramen with you,” he finally repeated, emphasizing `ramen' and `you'. Even Anko and Genma looked fairly shocked, Sakura could only nod and look up at Kakashi.

“What is it you want me to do?” He said bending down to look at her. She fumbled with her hands and looked at the ground. “Well…if you were to go up there and ask him to come eat ramen and I just happened to be at Ichiraku's already eating…” Kakashi looked at the girl skeptically. If Naruto had already said no to her the only way he was going to convince the boy to come along was to threaten him. Sakura looked up at him and pouted slightly, giving him a full blast of the puppy dog eyes she begged once more, “Please, it'll be just like old times, you treating us to ramen and all.”

Kakashi had almost given in when he heard the last part, “What do you mean me treating you?” Sakura looked up and smiled lightly, “Well we haven't really had any missions lately, and you just got back from a really long one so that means you just got paid. What could possibly be more worth it than spending it to treat your students?”

Kakashi groaned slightly trying to ignore Anko's giggles. Finally he looked back down to Sakura and nodded. “I'll go get him; you run ahead and save us some seats.” Sakura grinned and took off; once she had disappeared he sighed and walked past the other two on his way to get Naruto. In truth he was happy that Sakura had interrupted them, he hadn't liked the train of questioning Anko was heading down.

XXXXXXXXX

Kakashi walked into Naruto's apartment without knocking and found Naruto in the same position that Sakura had left him in. Without even bothering to speak he took hold of Naruto's shoulders and led him out of the room. The boy struggled slightly when they reached the hall and Kakashi turned to close the door, he turned around to face Naruto. “Keep struggling and I'll carry you there,” he said causing Naruto to scowl slightly before following compliantly.

The two walked out of the building and headed towards Ichiraku's ignoring the interested looks being sent their way. They walked into the stand and joined Sakura at the counter; Naruto seemed oblivious to the surprised looks of the old man behind the counter and his daughter. The two hadn't seen their best customer in just over three months. They were also surprised to see Team 7's remaining members all together. The three hadn't really been seen together since Sasuke's betrayal six months before.

When her sensei and teammate joined her Sakura went ahead and placed her order, Kakashi followed her lead and when Naruto remained silent they ordered for him. The blond remained silent giving Kakashi and Sakura time to chat as they waited for their food. Once it arrived they watched as he ate slowly and quietly, when he was done he set down his chopsticks and looked up to see if the others were done. Kakashi had once again managed to avoid allowing either of his students to see under his mask and Sakura had eaten slowly sending her quiet teammate worried glances. When no calls for seconds came forth Kakashi sighed and paid leading his students out.

Once outside Ichiraku's Kakashi turned around to look at his students. He studied them for a moment causing Sakura to look at him curiously in return. “Since I wasn't here yesterday for the demonstrations I haven't had a chance to see how much you've improved,” he finally said. This statement was met by a slightly confused Sakura and a still indifferent Naruto. Kakashi rolled his visible eye slightly at the blonde's behavior before reaching into his pocket and pulling out two bells. Sakura grinned a bit when she realized what he was suggesting, when the bells jingled softly Naruto turned to look at them as well.

“I promise this isn't some hidden test about teamwork. I just want to see how much the two of you have improved. Teamwork is allowed but you can go at it alone if you want.” Sakura nodded and looked around as if silently asking if they were going to fight in the middle of the street. Kakashi's eye crinkled in amusement before motioning for the two Gennin to follow him.

XXXXXXXXX

Several minutes later the group found themselves on their old training grounds near the memorial stone. Kakashi held the bells up in front of him and jingled them once to signal the start of the exercise. “I'll give you two the benefit of the doubt; I'll start out assuming you're good enough that I won't be able to read Icha Icha Paradise.” Naruto growled when he heard mention of Jiraiya's book and glared at Kakashi. His sensei merely looked back at him in amusement. “You must be keeping Jiraiya busy with training Naruto; it's been awhile since he's come out with a new one,” he taunted his blond student.

While Kakashi was busy trying to anger Naruto, Sakura was already formulating a plan in her head. She knew it would work if she could get Naruto to help her. With that thought she quickly disappeared from the clearing. A moment later Kakashi smirked when Naruto disappeared as well. He noted with a hint of pride that he could barely sense the two as they moved towards each other in the underbrush. The two paused when they met and he could only assume that they were formulating a plan. He was quite pleased to see that Naruto seemed to at least be willing to work with Sakura even if he wasn't being particularly sociable.

A moment later he felt the two separate. He prepared himself wondering what they had come up with. His lack of knowledge as to their recently gained skills put him at a slight disadvantage when it came to an actual fight. Sure he knew more than a thousand jutsu but most of them weren't ones he would use against his students in a friendly spar. He watched as Sakura stopped just outside the clearing crouching low, she was concealed very well. Naruto was hopping from tree to tree on his way it seemed to the other side of the clearing.

He noticed that the blond didn't seem to be trying to conceal his movements. This meant that Naruto was either a distraction or distracted. He barely had time to move out of the way when a hand shot up out of the ground where he had been standing. Sakura emerged for a moment before re-submerging into the ground. He quickly threw a kunai in the direction where she had been crouching earlier and tried to hide his smile when he heard the distinctive pop of a shadow clone disappearing.

He perched on the tree in the middle of the clearing and scanned for his students once more. It appeared as if Sakura had made her way over to Naruto and they were talking once more. The two were barely fifty feet away whispering in the bushes on the edge of the clearing. He squinted slightly to see if he could read their lips and his eyes widened when Naruto turned to look directly at him. Barely a second later the boy ran through a number of hand seals and brought his hand up to his mouth in a familiar gesture.

He jumped out of the way just as a stream of fire ignited the tree he had been sitting in. He ignored his students for a moment as he surveyed the damage, the upper branches where he had been perched were burning fiercely and the fire was slowly spreading to the rest of the tree. He went through some quick hand seals and let the water in the lake extinguish it before it was completely destroyed. When that was done he turned and jumped out of the clearing deciding it was time to seek his students out.

A few hours later two exhausted Gennin and one impressed Jounin were sitting by the poles looking at the memorial. Sakura and Naruto had continued with plan after plan to get the bells from Kakashi. He was shocked at how close they had managed to come a number of times and even more impressed with the way their skills had grown. Though Naruto's behavior was still subdued he could have sworn that the boy had grinned once or twice and was impressed with the more refined taijutsu style that he had been using. Sakura had showed much more finesse and due to the tutelage of Tsunade the girl had been able to participate more physically in the exercise, something she had rarely been able to do before.

He was also impressed with the teamwork they had showed. First the two had managed to work together despite not training together for almost six months. Secondly they had managed to compensate for the fact they were missing their third, the two had each had to work harder and had managed quite well. He was most impressed because they had been able to put aside current events in order to work together. Sakura had put aside Naruto's behavior and the blond had been able to work with her ignoring his own problems at least for an afternoon.

After a few minutes he looked up to see Sakura looking sadly at the memorial stone. Naruto had backed up against one of the posts and was looking at her from the corner of his eye. Kakashi walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I heard about what happened. Are you okay?” he asked, not knowing what else to do. Sakura looked up and nodded, there were tears in her eyes but she was smiling slightly.

He beckoned with his hand behind his back trying to get Naruto to join them. After several minutes of hand gestures (some of them quite rude) and one annoyed glance backwards he finally felt Naruto join them. He placed a hand on each of their shoulder and leaned down slightly. “I know everything you're going through is difficult. You two have been through a lot in the past several months but you can't give up. Just remember that you're still teammates, as long as you're here for each other then there's always hope that things will get better.” Sakura looked up at him and smiled while Naruto looked down at his feet. Kakashi rolled his eyes and shook Naruto's shoulder, after a moment Naruto looked up. Kakashi was pleased to see that the determined glow in his eyes seemed to be coming back.

Several moments later their peaceful moment was ruined when Anko and one of Tsunade's messengers approached them. Anko nervously scratched the back of her head and handed a folder to Kakashi, without even bothering to read it he glared at her. She held her hands up defensively and said, “Don't yell at me I was just sent to inform you that we're working together on our next mission. We leave tomorrow morning, the rest of the information is in the folder.” With that said she looked around the clearing curiously, when she spotted the burnt tree, she whistled and turned to Naruto, “Are you sure you don't have a grudge against trees?”

Naruto rolled his eyes and turned away, unfortunately it was then that he noticed Tsunade's messenger was glaring at him. He turned quickly and pretended to be studying the ground. Kakashi and Anko both noticed this and turned to glare at the messenger, under their stares his own wilted slightly. He quickly straightened and began speaking, “Hokage-sama has asked me to tell you that Jiraiya-sama will not be returning tomorrow as planned, he has been delayed several days. She feels that you have had sufficient time to recover so you will resume training tomorrow with Genma's supervision.” The only sign that he was speaking to Naruto was the fact that he mentioned Jiraiya. He then turned to Sakura. “Hokage-sama has several meetings tomorrow and won't be able to oversee your training. Instead Genma will be overseeing your training along with Uzumaki's,” he added before turning around and walking away.

Anko turned to walk away as well. “By the way Naruto it's five to eight. Kakashi covered for you yesterday but you wouldn't want to get into trouble, now would you?” she shouted as she disappeared from view. Naruto paled slightly and turned to Kakashi. “Come on, I'll get you two home,” he said leading his students out of their training field. He took one last glance back at the stone hoping his words had had some effect on them.

XXXXXXXXX

Late that night Naruto lay in his small apartment looking out the window towards the moon. He wasn't very tired; after all he had been going on just a few hours every few days for the past several months. The night before he had fallen asleep after breaking down at the memorial stone. He had woken up early that morning when Sakura had stopped by but he had still managed to fit in enough sleep to last him almost a week. He sighed and thought back on everything Kakashi had told him over the past two days. Most it had made him feel even guiltier.

The majority of his thoughts went to the last thing his sensei had said while they were all at the memorial stone before Anko had interrupted them. He wanted to believe that everything would be okay. He wanted to believe that if they worked together they could bring back Sasuke; that Team 7 would be whole again. It seemed impossible to him that things could get better; it seemed that as time went on they would only get worse. The Akatsuki was only playing with him now, in a few years it would become more serious. Orochimaru couldn't really do anything to Sasuke yet, but they could lose him for good in just a few years. How could things turn out okay?

He suddenly noticed that the moon was full again. He cringed slightly when he remembered nights of other full moons. The days after full moons were always bad as well. He wondered briefly what had happened that night and what would happen the next day before rolling over in bed and staring at the wall.

Agent's Spiel: (1) This quote is from chapter 241 in the Manga. It's what Obito says to Kakashi just like he says in the story. The events of Obito's death are also from the manga. I made up that thing about the funeral as well as Kakashi and the villagers' reactions to the ordeal.