New family Old problem:
Three days had passed since Naruto had come to live with Kakashi, and neither could recall a time when they had been more content.
Naruto, still oddly shy at times, was quickly becoming the best thing that had ever happened to Kakashi. The child's mere presence—whether he was sitting quietly eating dinner, training, reading a book, or sleeping—made Kakashi smile and almost forget all the terrible things he had been through.
Currently they were having breakfast, and Kakashi was studying the child again for the 1000th time. Naruto was a little in awe of this intense attention from his new very own father. At the orphanage, he had always dreamed of his parents coming to take him away, but not adoption. Even if he did, this was not what he had thought about. He shifted in his chair, under the intense scrutiny, and then he remembered his kunai.
"I can throw kunai to a bulls-eye," he informed Kakashi, with a little happiness.
"Really?" Kakashi crossed his arms doubtfully, "Let's see."
They went out to the backyard.
Naruto, after three tries because he was nervous, got the glittering kunai to hit the wooden board with a loud thud. He turned towards Kakashi, nervously.
"Your aim is good for a beginner; perhaps I should teach you how to hit three targets at once? It's the basic at the academy," murmured Kakashi.
"Re-really?" Naruto couldn't help blurting.
"Huh…of course. Don't you want to learn?"
Naruto blushed and nodded energetically. Somehow, he thought he had annoyed this strange man by notasking for training.
Kakashi removed three shuriken and threw them lazily, hitting all three targets at the same time, right at the bulls-eye.
"The trick is to concentrate on the targets, erasing the surroundings, steady arm and even steadier gaze."
Kakashi handed Naruto the weapons," practice until you can throw them in your sleep", he said and went to sit on the bench and disappeared behind an orange book.
Naruto got to work, not wanting to disappoint his new guardian. He threw the weapons repeatedly and energetically, all the while copying the hand movements Kakashi had shown him. It was more difficult than he thought.
"Your concentrating on three different dimensions Naruto, imagine all three boards as one moving target. Throw with eyes on the target not on your weapons," Kakashi offered the next day.
Well over ten hours of practice passed. Kakashi sat through it patiently. So patient, that Naruto wondered at this man and who really he was. No one had ever spent this much time with him on anything, not ever. But every time he turned Kakashi was still there, making Naruto determined to succeed.
Finally, just as the sun was beginning to set, Naruto managed to hit all the three targets. Kakashi closed his book and slouched forward, "again," he said.
Naruto obeyed and repeated, cleanly hitting the targets as smoothly as Kakashi had.
Kakashi smiled softly, placed a hand on the child's unruly blonde hair and said, "Well done Naruto."
The child brightened visibly, as though the wind was filling him with happiness, not air. He smiled so brightly, with such joy threatening to burst his little heart.
Kakashi crouched in front of him, gently wiping his sweaty brow and dirty cheeks.
"If you wash up, we can go to Ichiraku for some ramen," he said.
Naruto couldn't hold it any longer.
"YATTAAAAA..." he screamed and hugged Kakashi fiercely, and before Kakashi could react he was off running into the house.
Kakashi stared after the little child and then smiled softly. He got up and went to retrieve the weapons. He froze once suddenly and then continued to pick up. He was being watched. They. They were being watched.
By… one, two, three, four.
Four shinobi.
Kakashi stretched, casually turned around and lifted his hand at the trees. The chakra the intruders were emitting was not a danger… his fingers twitched, wanting to throw the shuriken he held. He could take them, no one would even know.
He sighed lazily.
Maybe they were just his fan girls, here to see if it was true that he had really adopted a kid. Naruto had made him happy and he did not feel like killing anybody tonight.
Tomorrow night though…
.
Kakashi did not have to wait until nightfall the next day.
He was making breakfast and thinking about how Naruto had fallen asleep over his sixth bowl of ramen. And how he had, single handedly stop all activity in Konoha when he carried a sleeping Naruto home.
The child entered and started setting down plates for breakfast, for both of them, even though he had breakfast alone everyday while Kakashi looked on. Kakashi did not comment and placed eggs toast and milk in front of Naruto.
"..ano-sa… Otousan…." Naruto said quietly. Kakashi froze as his heart stopped for a moment.
Naruto panicked.
Recovering quickly, Kakashi forced himself to smile eye curving.
The child began again,"…ano.. why do you wear a mask?"
Ah. Kakashi should have seen this one coming.
Naruto swallowed nervously, thinking that perhaps he had crossed a line. He certainly would never know where the lines were with this man. Kakashi was considering him with an intense look in his single eye. Naruto supposed he was thinking how much to tell him.
"mmm…well my Otousan… did something, which caused a great loss to Konoha. I was…angry with him and did not want to look like him anymore. So I tied the mask," said Kakashi lightly.
"Where is he now?" asked Naruto.
"He's dead," came the reply in a tone that suggested Naruto should drop the subject.
Naruto ate an egg, "if he's dead, why do you still wear a mask?" he asked shyly.
Why indeed?
"It makes me look cool, don't you think?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto laughed aloud and nodded vigorously.
"Although I don't have to be cool in our house," and with that Kakashi removed his mask.
Kakashi could count the number of people who had seen his face on his hands and majority of them were dead. All of them had either blushed and looked away, or stared in shock and wonder.
Naruto did neither.
He simply started laughing. Kakashi was beginning to wonder if he had something on his face… he raised his eye brows questioningly.
" oto-otousan's face is multi coloured," Naruto managed to gasp out before clutching stomach and laughing again.
Of course.
The mask made his face tan unevenly. It did not help that his hitai-ate covering his Sharingan made that part a slightly different shade than his skin on the other side of the face. And he had spent two weeks in the Sand village so his tanned face must be funny.
Naruto's answer was so unpredictable that Kakashi blinked and laughed for the first time in years.
Kakashi was still chuckling when a knock sounded on the door. The mask was back on before Naruto could even blink. Kakashi slouched forward and said when Naruto stood up to follow him, "stay there".
The door opened and in came the weirdest man Naruto had ever seen. He had a bandaged head and very thin arms. He walked slowly and leaned heavily on the stick he carried. There was a large cross scar on his chin.
" Danzo…sama," Kakashi greeted him. The man ignored Kakashi and moved towards Naruto.
"So, you are the brat that had caused quite the uproar," Danzo addressed the child.
Naruto gulped, but held his ground, "I did not do anything," he said.
The man was circling him now. Like a predator, sizing him up before attack, then he stopped directly in front of Naruto.
Kakashi was between them in an instant, "why are you in my house Danzo-sama?" he asked pushing Naruto firmly behind him.
"I cannot believe you agreed to Sarutobi's most idiotic plan yet. I came to see for myself," said Danzo.
"Are you talking about the ROOT Danzo-sama?" Kakashi asked politely snide, he wanted to send Naruto away but was afraid of Danzo's minions outside.
Danzo's eye twitched.
"You know very well what I am talking about Kakashi-kun. Did you adopt the boy?" asked Danzo.
"Hai. Do you wish to examine the papers?" asked Kakashi.
Danzo remained silent as he considered Kakashi.
"What I wish Kakashi-kun, is to take the boy away, train and make him into the weapon Konoha needs and rightly deserves," said Danzo.
" Well….that's not going to happen, you see, Konoha doesn't need any more weapons," said Kakashi lightly and placed a hand casually on Naruto's shoulder, grip tight," and as for training him, I'm doing so myself as he is my responsibility."
"You will not change your mind?" Danzo asked almost angrily.
"No," came the firm reply.
"Don't confuse him with your blonde god Kakashi-kun; He's a demon," hissed Danzo finally.
Kakashi's grip tightened painfully, "He is my son now, Danzo-sama, and I will not tolerate any other address. Not even from you," he said in a dangerous voice that had Naruto's hair on the neck stand.
Danzo's unbandaged eye widened just a little. He abruptly turned and started walking out of the room. He paused at the door to whisper softly "You do realize you have just declared war with me, Kakashi-kun?"
"I'm ready" replied Kakashi in an equally soft voice.
.
A young man, with an ANBU mask dropped into the underground quarters of the ROOT. Very few people knew it even existed.
His uniform was a little big, and his breath just a little hitched, indicating he still had to get used to the mask on his face. Yet, he moved like a ghost.
He paused once when he encountered a cross road deep in the underground. He was in the right place, he waited.
Slowly he could hear his summoner approach and stop over the raised platform.
"Danzo-sama.." he greeted softly, kneeling.
"I have a mission for you… it is difficult. Remove your mask." Danzo commanded.
"Hai" said the man.
He began removing his mask and a pair of red Sharingan eyes flashed, slowly twirling in the semi-darkness.
.
dear reader,
please reveiw...