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Chapter One: A Chance Meeting
The eighteen-year-old ANBU Kakashi Hatake was finished with another mission. It was simple enough, go to the Land of Water and investigate the deaths of a group of Konohagakure Tokubetsu Jonin lead by Kumade Toriichi. What Kakashi found was troubling, though he and Sarutobi decided that retaliation against the Hidden Mist would only end in disaster, so they marked the deaths as "KIA by unknown causes" to all but a few selective people. Their bodies were, of course, erased via Cremation Jutsu.
As Kakashi lazily headed for home, he got the feeling that he was being followed. This wasn't uncommon, as it would happen more often than he wished, but what was uncommon was the person who was following him. Kakashi turned around to see a small child who might've been around five, a child he knew all too well. Oh, why if it isn't Naruto Uzumaki, the one-eyed ninja thought, what is he doing here? Suddenly, the young boy got on his hands and knees, he put his forehead on the ground.
"PLEASE! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! Let me be your apprentice!"
Well, I wasn't expecting that. The ANBU shrugged, he turned around and kept walking. Soon enough, the yellow child was right in front of him, "Hey! Aren't you at least going to say something? I want you to be my sensei!"
Kakashi sighed, "I'm not an instructor, if you want to be a ninja you should sign up at the academy."
Hearing this just seemed to make the kid mad, "I tried, but they wouldn't let me join! They said I was too young!"
Now I know that's a lie. Kakashi felt bad for the shunned boy, but he felt that training anyone would be too much work than he wanted plus he had personal reasons to especially not want to train the Uzumaki kid. So the silver-haired man did the only rational thing he could think of, and started running away from the child.
XxXxX
After getting quite a distance, Kakashi stopped to look if he had gotten rid of his pursuer. Satisfied with an absence of yellow, the ANBU turned for the road home and ran into the boy again who was panting for breath. The child pointed at the cyclops.
"You...train...me..." Naruto gasped out.
Kakashi was impressed, he hadn't even been running that fast yet this kid managed to keep up with him. Impressed, but still didn't feel like offering him training.
With a single jump, Kakashi was on a nearby rooftop. "Fine, but first let's see you get up here." This will make the kid leave me alone.
Naruto started grinning, and ran to the side of the building where he started climbing up the wall. Oh Hell... the one-eyed ninja put a palm on his face as the young boy got onto the roof.
"How's that?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi had to step up his game if he was going to lose this brat, he nodded, "Good, now, follow me." he said as he jumped to the rooftop next to the one the two were on, sure that the boy wouldn't follow him this time.
Sure enough, the yellow wonder backed up and took a running jump to get across the gap. Kakashi kept running and jumping across the rooftops of Konoha with Naruto in hot pursuit. The former wondering how can the child have the stamina and agility to follow him, but then he remembered that this was no mere child.
XxXxX
Somehow, Naruto had chased the ANBU all the way to the Third Training Ground, where the two stopped to catch their breath. Or rather, where Naruto caught his breath, running all the way across the village was simply one of those things you were expected to do as an ANBU, so Kakashi had recovered quickly and Naruto a few minutes after him. After resting up, Kakashi decided to ask the million-ryo question. "So Naruto, why do you want to become a ninja?"
The yellow child beamed at him, "Why? Because I want to be recognized! I want people to look up to me! I'm aiming for the top, I'm gonna become Hokage and then everyone would like me instead of always kicking me around!"
Hokage? Is this kid serious? Kakashi knew that the Hokage position was something in the Uzumaki's genes, but he knew he shouldn't talk about that. Instead, Kakashi figured he'd scare Naruto out of becoming a shinobi of the leaf, at least not until he was older. "If you're going to be a ninja, then you have to prove to me that you're serious about it." Kakashi stated.
Naruto nodded, "I'll do whatever it takes!" he exclaimed as he stood up with determination in his eyes eyes and a balled up fist.
"Well then..." Kakashi got up, and shook himself into a fighting stance, "How about you show me how strong you are?"
Naruto didn't have to be asked twice, he jumped back to get into a makeshift fighting stance, Kakashi noted that his stance was way off. Sighing, he reached into his back pouch, and pulled out a book with an orange cover that had the title "Icha Icha Paradise".
"Oi, what's that?" Naruto asked.
"A new book that just came out." Kakashi told him.
"I know that! But why do you have it out?" Naruto yelled.
"It's a handicap, if you can hit me at least once while I read and fight you with one finger, we'll move on to the next lesson." Kakashi opened up his new book that Sarutobi gave him. He held it with his right hand while he opened and closed his left hand as to say "Bring it."
Naruto wasn't as good at fighting as he was at running. Kakashi figured he could end it quickly with just a finger flick, even though he wasn't left-handed, but he wanted to read the first chapter of his new book before that since when was he ever going to find the time for reading? Kakashi got to the fifth page of the story.
"...in the dead of night, Haru used his lock picks to slowly and carefully break the tumbler lock of the door that kept him from his target's room. Quickly and quietly, Haru approached the bed of the woman he had followed from the tavern, when he got to the bedside-"
"What the hell?" Kakashi yelled as he was taken aback from what he read, a bit of blood coming out of his nose. This gave Naruto the opening he needed as he landed a mediocre blow to the ANBU's ribs.
"Yes! I did it!" the yellow child cheered.
Kakashi wasn't amused, "You got a cheap shot in while I was distracted." the older ninja retorted.
Naruto cocked his head to the side, "Well yeah, isn't that what being a ninja is all about?"
Damn this kid is sharp. Kakashi regained his composure, he was willing to try out one last thing before admitting defeat. He put the orange book away but made a note to read it when he got into the privacy of his own home. "Okay then Naruto, it's time for the final test. When I say 'dodge', you need to dodge, understand?"
Naruto nodded, grinning.
"DODGE!" Kakashi threw blunt shuriken and kunai (that he kept to bluff enemies) at Naruto. The boy managing to dodge most of them, the ones that hit him served little to slow him down let alone stop him.
XxXxX
The blunted weapons continued to be thrown until Kakashi had ran out. After that, Kakashi noted that Naruto had managed to dodge thirty-six out of fifty attacks, and when he did get hit, he still kept going, and now he was taking a well-deserved rest against a tree as Kakashi stood over him.
Seeing that the boy had no intention on giving up, and would probably take anything Kakashi could throw at him, the one-eyed man finally caved in. "Okay, fine, I'll be your sensei..." Kakashi stopped Naruto from bursting out in cheer, "But first answer me this, why do you want to have the Hokage's position? It's a lot of hard work getting there. First you'll have to pass the academy, then you have to prove your worth by completing missions as a genin, then take the chunin exams, complete missions as a chunin, take the jonin exams, complete the most difficult missions you'll be getting thus far, and then even after working so hard, you'll only be in a position where you might be considered to become Hokage."
Naruto looked at his new sensei with fierce determination burning in his bright blue eyes, "Then I'll work hard! I'll train my ass off if I have to! I'm going to surpass every Hokage of past generations! Then everyone would have to treat me with respect!"
Kakashi sighed and shook his head, closing his eye, "If it's only for getting respect, then you shouldn't waste your time."
The look of Naruto's face changed from determined to confused.
"I'll let you know that even if you do work that hard, even if you do become Hokage, there will still be people who will shun you. Maybe even plot behind you to start a coup, it's happened before to past Hokage, we suspect there's even one forming with plans on getting rid of the Third."
Naruto kept quiet as he let this knowledge sink in, Kakashi thought about what to say next.
"You should also remember that I won't always be there to help you." the masked man finally said, looking away at something in the distance.
"What do you mean?" Naruto stood up as his new sensei started walking to one of the sides of the field to a dignified and well kept stone monument with a bunch of names etched onto it.
"You may not fully realize this now, but you will sooner or later. The path of the ninja is filled with death, and I'm no exception to it."
Naruto saw the sadness in the jonin's eye.
"I've lost many of my precious people in the line of duty. My father, my sensei, my friends and allies, even my biggest rivals that I had the utmost respect for. The harsh truth, Naruto, is that death, in the end, is all that awaits a ninja. This is why many drop out of the academy, why many don't make it too far as ninja."
The two stood in silence for what seemed like hours. The young Naruto closed his eyes as he let the awful truth mull over in his mind. A very still and very awkward silence filled the air, it was so quiet that even the smallest noises of the nearby forests were louder in comparison. That, and Naruto's stomach, which reminded him that working incredibly hard for an afternoon made him very hungry.
It made Kakashi chuckle, much to the young boy's surprise. "Well, I suppose a small celebration is in order. How about we go get some dinner? My treat." It was hard to tell with the mask, but Naruto felt that Kakashi was smiling at him, and quickly accepted his offer.
"Can we go to this ramen place I know? They don't throw me out like most of the other places." Naruto pleaded.
"Sure, wherever you like." Kakashi said as the two walked back to Konoha.
XxXxX
The next day during the afternoon, Kakashi returned to the Hokage's office to tell Sarutobi about him accepting to be Naruto's sensei, but it seemed that the Third had already known about this decision.
"So, you wish to prepare Naruto Uzumaki for when he becomes a ninja of Konoha?" was the first thing Sarutobi said when Kakashi entered the office. He was first confused, but then remembered that the Third often used a special jutsu with a crystal ball he kept near him to keep track of several people of interest, Naruto among them.
"He shows promise for a child, I gave him a difficult time and yet he still wanted to be trained by me. That kind of student only comes once, maybe twice in a lifetime..." Kakashi shrugged, "I thought about your offer to become a jonin-sensei, so maybe I'd have the Uzumaki kid as a trial run."
Sarutobi smiled a bit, but then returned to his stern look. "Kakashi, it is pleasing to know that Naruto would be trained by one of our finest shinobi, but I wish to ask if you would like to take it a step further."
Kakashi raised his eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
The Third gave a heavy sigh as he shook his head, "As you know, many of the village despise the Uzumaki child, all for the very reason our village still survives today. Finding the child a permanent home has become nigh impossible, and now even one of Konoha's own orphanages, one I have personally selected as I hoped it would give him the best chance, has decided to throw Naruto out on the street."
Kakashi's eye opened fully, in a bit of surprise, "What happened?"
Sarutobi shook his head, "Earlier today, the foster parents whom I put in Naruto's care came to me with news that Naruto would start fights with the other children, and that they couldn't have the other children near the violent fox-demon that was responsible for slaughtering their birth parents."
"Start fights? Naruto? But he can barely fight himself. " Kakashi was skeptical.
"I did not see it myself, so I do not know for sure. The bottom line is that Naruto has become homeless. He needs a home..."
Kakashi looked down, not wanting to look into the Third's eyes, "I...I don't...I don't think that I should be the one to look after him." he finally said.
"...is this because of what happened to Obito and Rin?"
Kakashi stayed silent. The memories of his fallen comrades flooding into his mind.
"Kakashi, you know that Minato never blamed you for what happened. He knew that the circumstances both times were far beyond your control, and if anything he blamed himself."
"I was in charge, I had responsibility for my teammates' lives and I-"
"Kakashi."
Looking up, he saw that the Third's eyes had a mixture of calm composure, sadness, understanding, and regret.
"I am not going to force you, Kakashi. I am well prepared to give Naruto his own living quarters if you do not wish to provide him with one, but you and I both know that it would be difficult for such a troubled child to grow up without guidance. Instead, I am only going to ask you to do this for me, and if you cannot do this for me, then do this for Minato...and if you cannot do this for him, I will understand."
Kakashi closed his eye as he thought long and hard about this.
XxXxX
Outside of the Hokage's office, and the academy itself, Naruto sat alone on a swing that was under the shade of a tree. He was upset. Upset at those bullies that hurt him and that girl the other day, upset at the people from the orphanage who called him a monster just as much as everyone else in the village, and upset at himself for somehow making pretty much everyone in Konohagakure hate his guts, and now that he knew that being the Hokage might not change a thing. He had no idea what to do anymore, and wondered where he'd be sleeping tonight since now he didn't even have a place to go to.
Naruto heard one of the doors to the academy, the one that lead to where he was sitting to be precise, open and close. He heard footsteps coming from the door heading towards him, and figured it was someone coming to yell at him to get away from the academy. Naruto was about to get off the swing when he looked up and saw the masked man he met the previous day.
Kakashi gave the young boy an eye-smile, and outstretched his hand towards him. "Come along, let's go home."