Please read this first:

This was my very first fanfic, written a couple of years ago right before the Pain saga in the manga was out. So this plays presumably before that. I found it in an old backup and thought I should upload it here.

Please be nice as the quality might not be as good, but I am already working on a sequel and my writing skills have developed over the years (in a good way, I hope...).

I'll be trying to upload daily. It's a pretty long fic and I'm re-reading it, making some corrections here and there. Please do let me know what you think, positive and negative comments are welcome, but please keep it clean. Thank you. :)

Last but not least:

DISCLAIMER: "Naruto" is a property of Masashi Kishimoto and some corporate suits. I do not own anything, except for Kaede, my OC.

"Obito. I'm so sorry. I wasn't able to protect Rin. I broke my promise. And now, it seems like I've lost everyone I ever cared about."

Kakashi couldn't believe that the emptiness he felt back then would be filled again, about fifteen years later. Even though some of his friends were still alive, they were so far away that he would probably never see them again. Sasuke, who had lost his way ever since he killed his brother. Oh yes, he was going to see him again, that was for sure. But some younger friends from his past, who were innocent and defenseless and had to flee from Konoha during the attack of the Kyuubi, were probably dead by now.

He looked up and saw three great friends walking in front of him, on their way back from another exploring mission. Naruto was talking about a date with Sakura.

"We aren't even back yet and you're already talking about dating?" she said with a frown.

"It'll be fun," said Naruto. "Please, Sakura-chan? Just one—"

"No, you idiot!" yelled Sakura, punching Naruto on the head. A huge lump appeared on his head.

Sai just walked beside them, looking confused.

"Sakura, if you like Naruto, why don't you want to go on a date with him?" he asked. Sakura looked at him in surprise. "W-wha—"

Naruto recovered and walked right next to Sakura. "Eh? Sakura-chan, so you really do like me?"

Once again, Sakura punched him on the head, making the lump on his head grow even bigger.

"Sai, if you don't want to end up like that, you'd better think before you say such idiotic things, got it?" she said with a blush on her cheeks.

Sai smiled nervously and said: "Got it."

Kakashi laughed as he saw his friends being exactly who they were. He wouldn't want it any other way.

As he watched Naruto still trying to get Sakura to go on a date with him, Kakashi had a strange feeling about Naruto just being Naruto, after having such a rough childhood, and having the great responsibility as the host body of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, not having known his parents at all…

"Kakashi-niichan! Help me! You promised! YOU PROMISED!"

He could still hear that voice as he woke up the next day. Not even one day had passed without feeling regret for that day. But people couldn't make up for their mistakes with regret. He knew that as much as the next guy. But he couldn't help it. Besides, Uzumaki Kaede was dead now. There was no chance left for him to make it up to her.

A/N: Epic foreshadowing... Next chapter will be a lot brighter than this gloomy introduction, I promise. ^^;