Team Sharingan

Team Sharingan

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or assorted characters, I'm just messing up the world to fit the delusions coming from my skull.

Chapter 3

Shopping wasn't bad when Kakashi was there to make sure he didn't get over charged or sold defective merchandise. The first store they entered wasn't a problem.

It was the second one.

The clerk saw the blond enter and threw a knife at him. Kakashi knocked it aside and was in the man's face before he could even blink, a kunai held at the clerks throat.

Naruto couldn't hear what was said, but Kakashi told him to get what he wanted and needed.

Shrugging the blond did as he was told.

Kakashi was worried. Naruto was still quiet, he didn't complain about anything and what worried the Jonin most was Naruto had avoided ramen since the battle where everything had gone wrong.

Fully stocked now with new clothes, which barely had any orange, new shuriken, kunai, scrolls, tags and a chain and sickle, they were walking the streets when Naruto finally spoke.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yes Naruto, is something wrong? He asked. He hadn't touched his Icha Icha book since that day, but he found he didn't miss it. How could I? I lost a student and my remaining ones were traumatized and badly wounded do to my failure as a sensei.

"Do…Have…" Naruto paused.

"Say what you want, even if it sounds wrong Naruto. I'll answer as best I can." Kakashi said.

The blond nodded and took several breaths. "When you got your…do you ever hear your teammates voice in your head?"

Kakashi stopped and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Its not real Naruto. Its your sub-consciousness beating you up."

Naruto looked down. Kakashi made sure the storage scrolls were secure before he shushined himself and Naruto away from the busy streets.

XX

The reappeared at the memorial stone. "When Obito died…I…I still blame myself. When Rin transplanted his eye on his dying request, I felt even worse. I drove everyone away from me. My friends, Rin…" Kakashi sighed. "Gai was the only one who put up with my attitudes and anger and self loathing."

Kakashi looked at the stone and found Obito's name with a long practiced ease. "I let it rule me until recently."

"Why? Did you find peace?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi shook his head. "I came to an understanding. I was so focused on the dead, I allowed you, my students to come to harm trying to keep a promise I had no right making to a dead teammate."

Naruto looked at the stone. He found Obito's name and he looked at the last spot. In a few days, Sasuke's name is going to be added there. He thought sadly.

"I realized I should have trained you and Sakura and Sasuke properly. I allowed my prife and ego to rule me, and it cost the three of you dearly."

Naruto shook his head, but Kakashi cut him off from protesting. "I did. I failed you the most Naruto. I knew how you were trained in the academy and instead of helping you fix it, I abandoned you. I am worse than trash."

Naruto looked at his sensei. "No. Kakashi-sensei…"

"Yes Naruto. If I was a teacher, I would have trained you properly. I would have forced Sasuke to work on his teamwork." He looked at the memorial stone.

"I should have done what Minato-sensei did to our team."

"Who? What did he do?" Naruto's lone blue eye looked up at him.

"Minato Namikaze was my sensei." The name didn't draw any recognition and Kakashi decided he'd talk to the Hokage first, but he was going to tell Naruto about his father.

"And our team, was similar in so many ways to Team 7. Sasuke was like me, you were like Obito and Sakura and Rin are so similar its scary. We had the same errors and fights amongst ourselves. Unlike my sensei I did nothing to stop them. Minato-sensei however refused to let anything like that happen. He would use a chain jutsu and bind us together. Let me tell you, nothing promotes teamwork like being shackled to another person twenty-four hours a day. It took us a month to start working together on things without fighting. Two before Minato-sensei removed the chakra bonds."

Naruto looked at his sensei who had a faraway look in his lone eye. "Obito and I fought, but it was more of a brotherly sniping at one another by this time." He looked at Naruto. "I saw something like that between you and Sasuke. The two of you worked together quicker on things than Obito and I did." Kakashi chuckled. "But then you'd both fall back and I assumed it was just…I'm not sure, and I know I'm off of what we were talking about."

He put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You might hear his voice, but its not real, its your mind remembering him by creating a voice that would snipe at you like he would."

"My voice blames me. I hear him saying its my fault he's dead. I stole his eye, I stole Sakura. I'm a failure and should be the one dead."

Tears slipped down Naruto's cheek and Kakashi held him as he cried. "It's a lie Naruto. You didn't steal his eye. Its not your fault he died and you didn't steal Sakura." He held the blond boy as he broke down before the memorial stone. Minato-sensei, help me help your son. I've failed him so badly, he's breaking under the burden, and I don't know what to do.

XX

Sakura ignored her mother as she went through her clothes and tossed most of them aside. Dresses were so foolish now. She packed battle dresses and shorts. Bandages, and what weapons she could. She ignored her cosmetics as she packed scrolls.

"Sakura honey…" Kimura began.

"Don't." Sakura said not turning around. Her lone green eye was hard as she focused on her task. "Don't try and justify it mother."

"That boy…"

"His name is Naruto." Sakura said turning around. "He is my teammate and…and my friend. Don't you dare demean him by calling him demon or the Kyuubi. He's a boy my age, and he's hurt as much as if not more than I am. For you to raise a hand or weapon against him, after I thought I could trust you last night."

"Sakura, please…give up being a ninja. You already are badly hurt. You lost your eye…" Kimura said.

"I lost my eye, so did Naruto. He's lost everything in his life. He lives alone in a ratty apartment, he's charged triple for food, most of the time its spoiled. He's sold substandard equipment. He was ignored at the academy, his papers and grades sabotaged. DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO TRIVIALIZE HIM!" Sakura roared.

"Don't you FUCKING DARE." Sakura said breathing hard, her emotions near the breaking point.

"He's all I've got left, and I won't let anyone harm him anymore. I meant what I said downstairs mother. I would break your arm if you would raise it against him."

Kimura Haruno stepped back.

"If you can't deal with my being around Naruto, I will find somewhere else to live when we come back."

"No…"

"Naruto is important to me. I am not abandoning him mother. Years ago I destroyed my friendship with Ino over Sasuke. I've regretted that ever since. Do you know how much of a bitch I was? Ino and I would snipe at one another constantly. I miss her as my friend. And I broke that because of what I thought other people thought."

Her hand pulled a ribbon off her dresser and she held it up. "This is all I have of my friendship with Ino." She lifted her headband to revealed the single marked sharingan. "And this is all I have of Sasuke. He was cold, he was selfish, but he was my teammate and in his own way he cared for both Naruto and I. I was an idiot and a fangirl. He didn't need that, he needed a friend more than anything."

She pulled her headband down, she still didn't have chakra reserves for long exposure, and her eye contact with Naruto earlier had drained her a bit, but that was something she didn't regret. It helped sooth him for a moment. She couldn't explain it, but since Wave she'd felt his emotions. Right now she could feel his turmoil and sadness, but she knew Kakashi-sensei was with him and was dealing with it.

She looked at her mother. "You need to act like the adult you are and drop this stupidity that the village has developed about Naruto being the Kyuubi. He's a scared and injured boy that's never had anyone."

Sakura turned her back and went back to packing. "No if you don't mind, I need to finish packing."

Kimura Haruno stepped back, tears in her eyes at the coldness in her daughters voice towards her.

Oh sweetie…

XX

Naruto sat looking at the memorial stone.

"Sensei?"

"Yes Naruto." Kakashi said sitting next to him.

"Will…will you help me and Sakura finish Sasuke's ambition for him?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi swallowed. "Kill Itachi?"

Naruto nodded.

"It will be sometime before you're both ready, and you can't go after him until I say you are." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded again.

"Sensei?"

"Yes?" Kakashi said.

"I think the Kyuubi's messed with my eye." He said.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked looking at his blond student.

"I don't feel a drain on my chakra with it." Naruto admitted. "Except for the first few days, I've had no trouble with it other than I can't shut it off."

Kakashi sighed. "I'm not sure what to say Naruto. The fox altering it like that could be its own way of protecting you."

Naruto scowled. "I wish there was a way to remove the damn fox from me." It was low, but Kakashi heard it. He put a hand on his students shoulder.

"We can't change it, but we can make it work for you." He said.

They'd been there for an hour now. Naruto's stomach made a loud rumble sound and Kakashi smiled. "We should eat."

Naruto sighed. "I don't know if I can…"

"You need to eat Naruto. Both you and Sakura need it." Kakashi said. He didn't mention his own lack of appetite since Sasuke's death.

"Come on, we'll get Sakura and after we've eaten we'll see the Hokage. I'll even treat you to ramen."

No response.

"Naruto."

"Can we have smoked fish instead?" Naruto said.

Smoked fish? That was the… "Sure Naruto." Kakashi said standing and the pair walked from the memorial, the Jonin remembering the last meal his team had shared together before the disaster in Wave.

XX

Sakura accepted the eye patch and slipped it on, tying her headband back over her hair. She slipped the scroll Kakashi handed her in her pack.

She didn't say goodbye to her mother who was in the kitchen as they left. They'd eaten in silence at the restaurant, the food was slow in consumption, and talk was barely existent.

They were leaving when they ran into Team 10.

"Forehead." Ino said.

Sakura nodded, but remained quiet. "What's with the patch?"

"I was injured on our last mission." Sakura said softly.

Looking around Ino spoke again. "Where's Sasuke-kun? Didn't he want to eat with losers like you?"

"Ino." Asuma said. He'd heard what happened, but had yet to inform his team. Looking at it now, he smacked himself for not doing so as Sakura teared up and turned.

Naruto caught her as she buried her head against his shoulder and sobbed.

"What gives?" Ino asked.

Kakashi answered. "Sasuke Uchiha died on our last mission."

Team 10 looked shocked. Ino looked lost. She looked at Sakura who was holding onto Naruto as a lifeline.

"Fore…Sakura….I'm so sorry. I didn't know…I…" her own tears welled up.

Naruto's lone blue eyes blazed at her. "No, you didn't, but all you can do is snipe. You see her hurt and you go to say the most hurtful thing you can." He spoke softly to Sakura, his hand rubbing up and down her back.

"I didn't…" she looked at Asuma and Shikamaru for help. Shikamaru put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"Kakashi, I'm sorry for your teams loss." Asuma said. "What…what are you going to do now?"

Kakashi put a hand on Sakura's and Naruto's shoulders. "I'm taking them to my family's place outside of town. We all need time to grieve and heal."

Shikamaru noticed the eye patch and Naruto's own headband like his sensei's. "What's with the eye coverings?"

Kakashi closed his eye. "Both Naruto and Sakura were badly wounded and lost an eye. I…I did a field procedure and took Sasuke's eyes and placed them in their destroyed sockets."

Ino looked at the eye patch covering her rival's eye. "You have Sasuke's eyes?"

Asuma put it together. "He got his Sharingan."

Kakashi nodded. "I wasn't going to lose my remaining students. I did what was for the best."

"For the best?" Ino demanded. "You stole his eyes!"

Kakashi looked at the blond. "I'll forgive your assumptions as you don't understand what's happened."

"Bull…"

"Ino." Asuma said cutting her off. She looked at him. "If Kakashi hadn't done what he did, they very well could have died depending how deep the wounds were. He saved the Sharingan for Konoha and he brought his students back."

"All but Sasuke-kun." The blond snarled.

Naruto looked at her and took Sakura away.

"Get back here!" Ino demanded.

Kakashi looked at Asuma. "Speak to you later. We need to see the Hokage."

Team 7 walked away, Ino fumed. "I bet that baka Naruto was responsible." She snarked. "He probably messed up and Sasuke had to save him."

"Ino, that is enough." Asuma said. "I know the mission report. The client lied about the mission. It went from C rank escort to an A rank possible S rank mission. The fact Kakashi brought back any of his students alive means something."

"Why couldn't he bring back Sasuke-kun and not the dead last and forehead? They…"

SLAP!

Ino's cheek erupted in pain and she looked in shock at Shikamaru as he lowered his hand after slapping her.

"Don't be such a shallow bitch Ino. Can't you see how much pain they are in?"

Choji nodded. Naruto was a somewhat friend, and the pain he'd seen in the blonds eye when Sasuke was mentioned meant that Team 7 was crumbling apart at the seams. Even Choji could see that.

Asuma nodded. "Team meeting is canceled. Go home. If you want to talk about this come see me. Do not verbally attack them." He looked at Ino. He'd seen the look in both Kakashi's and Naruto's eyes, he wondered for a moment if he'd have survived the attack, but both walked away, managing to keep their temper.

"Talk to your parents as well." Asuma said. "We'll talk about this as a group as well later. This is the first loss for those in your age group."

Asuma watched his students go. He was saddened how Ino acted. He'd seen the pain in the remaining team, and sent a prayer to Kami to help them pull thru this.

XX

"I didn't expect you back so soon." The Hokage admitted.

"We talked about it Lord Hokage, and I'm taking them to my family's home as I talked with you about last night. I've also asked Inoichi to come out and talk with them both separately and together."

Sarutobi looked at the two teens that were sitting on the sofa off to the side. They'd shown up and Sakura looked shattered and Kakashi told him of the running into Team 10.

"That's why they can't stay here right now. They need to heal."

Sarutobi nodded. "About the Chunin exams in three months…"

"If…a big if, if they are even in any kind of condition, I'd say as a two person cell. I don't think a third teammate at this time would be beneficial to their mental state. But I'm not going to worry about that right now. I need to help them mentally and how to learn their new eyes."

Kakashi revealed Naruto's admittance of Kyuubi meddling. Sakura looked up at the blond as he ran a hand up and down her back. He looked at her sadly and nodded, neither saying a word, allowing Kakashi to speak for them. The day was half over and it was already so draining on them both emotionally.

Sarutobi pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote out a pass for Team 7. "Take care of them Kakashi." He said softly.

Kakashi nodded taking the travel papers and bowed. "I won't fail them this time. I swear on my life."

AN: Not a lot happened here really. Mostly emotional bouncing for Team 7. next chapter they get to speak with Inoichi and train a bit, probably have a breakdown. Peace.