CHAPTER 1: We will give strength to those who still remain.
Kakashi strolled onto the training field three hours after sunrise, his nose stuck within the well-worn pages of an orange Icha Icha book. He walked with a hand shoved into his pocket. His hair, usually simply "disheveled," was something closer to "a disaster area." His single exposed gray eye was puffy and ringed with a bruise-like dark circle—the only evidence of his sleepless night, though no one could see it behind the book.
"Kaka-sensei! You're late!" Naruto pointed accusingly at his sensei, somehow unprepared for the smack Sakura delivered to the side of his head. Kakashi lowered his book, just slightly, to level a bland glare at his charges. Really, he had thought the boy would learn, eventually.
And yet, a mischievous glint in the blond's eye made him wonder.
"Naruto, Kakashi-sensei's always late. Every day. And every day, you point it out as if it's never happened before. Sometimes, I swear I could—"
"Enough," Kakashi muttered, slipping the book back up into its rightful position. "You two spar over there. Don't hold back.." He slouched over to a nearby tree and reclined against the rough, scaly trunk, letting his eyes fall closed behind his book. "But try to keep the damage to a minimum."
Sakura smiled sweetly toward Kakashi, but it became a frown when Naruto added, "Yeah, 'cause if you hold back, Sakura-chan, there's no way I can get strong enough to bring Sasuke back!" His yelled declaration startled a flock of crows, previously happily plucking insects from the grass at the tree line. They took flight amidst angry calls in Naruto's general direction and Naruto raised a fist into the air, shouting, "That's right! Run away!"
Sakura rolled her eyes.
Ignoring his teammate's obvious annoyance, Naruto strode past her and toward the area Kakashi had indicated. "Alright, Sakura-chan! Let's do this! I'm in a great mood today, by the way. So great, I'll even let you take the first swing! I—" Sakura's chakra-reinforced fist connected squarely with the blond's jaw, sending him cart wheeling and skidding to a halt in the grass near Kakashi, who smiled slightly behind his mask.
The jounin barely spared a glance at the boy, so used to their antics that they mostly went ignored. However, a sudden burst of dark, familiar chakra surged from Naruto's direction , drawing Kakashi's attention. Peering at the boy with his natural vision, the Copy-nin grunted, pulled up his hitai-ate, and exposed Obito's Sharingan.
"Naruto."
The boy was crouched on the grass, fingers idly trailing through green blades. Downcast eyes avoided his sensei and Sakura, instead meticulously inspecting the ground. The Sharingan spun, enhancing the disturbing red chakra pattern of the demon fox that was quickly surrounding Naruto. Sakura gasped as the chakra slowly became more viscous and visible without enhancement.
The sticky, sour taste of bile rose at the back of Kakashi's throat as the first tail of the Kyuubi emerged. Standing deliberately, maintaining visual contact as he edged closer to Naruto, Kakashi reached out to him, but withdrew his hand instantly. His glove was singed, fingers red and scalded where they had grazed the bloody chakra.
The boy let out a primal growl, arching his back, reaching and clawing toward the sky. On the edge of losing himself to the madness.
"Naruto!"
Kakashi rarely raised his voice, and Sakura jumped, a small yelp escaping parted lips, bringing her out of her panicked daze. She hurried forward to her sensei's side. "Kaka-sensei!? Why—?
"Sakura, find Yamato and Tsunade and meet us outside the village gates."
"Hai!" The girl was already in motion, the word yelled over her shoulder as she hurried away.
"Naruto…" Kakashi watched more chakra leaking off the boy, the nub of a second tail appearing beside the first. The chakra enveloped the blond like a second skin, boiling across his flesh, stripping it back in long, thin, peeling tendrils.
With a thought to his sensei and his promise to protect the boy, Kakashi grabbed Naruto, painfully aware of the looseness of his limbs and neck as he gathered him to his chest and lifted him off the ground. Kakashi grunted against the pain as the fox's chakra seared his arms, melting the jounin uniform to his skin and filling his world with the scent of charred hair and flesh. He concentrated his chakra to reinforce those areas sustaining the most damage and started moving toward the village.
Naruto's breath rasped in the Copy-nin's ear as he ran, the sound magnified by adrenaline-fueled senses. It pushed his determination to get to Tsunade and Yamato as quickly as possible, but he was unable to do handsigns with the boy in his arms. ...just to the gate...just to the gate... It became a mantra, fuel for his burning leg muscles, his desperate movements unaided by chakra for the first time in years as he was diverting all of it to maintaining consciousness and protecting himself from the Kyuubi.
"Naruto?" There was no response and Kakashi prayed to whatever gods were listening that the boy could be pulled back. The fully-formed second tail swished, brushing againast Kakashi's leg, forcing him to focus through the searing pain.
With a pop and the diffused scent of sulfur, Yamato, Tsunade, and Sakura appeared before the huge red gates of the village. Yamato rushed forward, steadying Kakashi by the shoulders as the Copy-nin stumbled and dropped to his knees beneath the stout muscled weight of the fifteen-year-old boy, shoving Naruto violently away. His arms and torso, ruined and shredded by the Kyuubi's chakra, had already begun leaking a bloody stain onto the road. Tsuande was already four steps toward Naruto when she heard a whispered, "Please…I-I don't know what set him off. The cloak…How many…"
"Still only two tails, senpai. Rest. I'm going to attempt to settle the demon." Yamato formed jutsu with flying fingers. A blue-green cage of chakra rose around Naruto who trembled, prone and fevered, and the red chakra began to recede. Peeling skin healed, eyes opened. Red, slit irises faded to azure—warm, and clear, and very much afraid.
"Did…did I…" The boy seemed unable to form the words.
"No. Everything is fine. A-are you?" Naruto turned toward the tremulous voice—Kakashi-sensei! It was laced with pain, and the blood staining his sensei's tattered uniform hurt the blond more than any accusation.
"I'm sorry…I don't know why it…I didn't mean to…I…" The boy fell silent at the quiet look he received from Kakashi as Sakura set to work on the silver-haired man. Head diligently bent, shoulders hunched, a soft green glow spread from her hands and across his wounds. Kakashi's expression slowly relaxed; his breathing eventually evened out.
When Tsunade finished with Naruto, she stood, dusting off her hands on her jacket, and asked pointedly, "What happened?"
"I…we were…" Sakura grimaced.
"It wasn't your fault, Sa-sakura-chan," Kakashi managed between gasps.
Tsunade approached Naruto with her hands folded behind her back. Appraising auburn eyes met blue, and her inner-self winced at the similarity to another pair of bright eyes. Her words came out harsher than intended. "Boy, lift your shirt. Show me your seal."
Naruto complied, silently withdrawn and disturbingly cooperative.
She ran a finger along the faint black lines swirling around his navel. "Faded," she stated flatly, betraying no hint of emotion…in truth, a betrayal all its own. "Your recent struggles to control its influence, coupled with this involuntary, unprovoked emergence would suggest the Yondaime's seal is losing its ability to trap the bijuu. You've come to the same conclusion?" She inclined her head toward Yamato and Kakashi, who nodded in unison. "As I suspected. Naruto, are you able to stand? Good. Yamato, escort him back to his apartment. Post around-the-clock ANBU guards and remain close by should they need your talents with the demon. In fact, inform Iruka, as well. He has a way with the boy that might prove useful."
Naruto stared angrily at the ground as he walked away, trailing behind Yamato, his guilt at losing control, endangering his team yet again, weighing heavily. Kakashi supposed the boy could hardly be blamed. If anyone was at fault, it was his sensei. It was his seal that had suddenly proven faulty.
The seal is fading?
He'd gotten a good look at it with his Sharingan during Tsunade's examination. The chakra at the center of the seal was red, not blue. It wasn't fading. It was breaking.
Leaving Sakura and Tsunade alone on the road, Kakashi managed a light nod of thanks and a half-smile just barely reflected in his eyes before vanishing with a pop. The kunoichi watched the spot on which Kakashi had stood, both silently wondering what he was thinking behind those mismatched eyes.