A/N: Whee! I'm totally on a roll with this :)
Chapter Summary: Kakashi takes Naruto to someone to talk about the ghosts that he sees. Naruto doesn't want to talk about it.
Warnings: Brief descriptions of gore from injuries causing death. I've upped the rating from K+ to T.
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Naruto hung off of Kakashi's elbow, swinging back and forth, humming to himself. Kakashi smiled down at the boy and led him down the hall towards his apartment. They'd spent the day together and he was once again stunned by the information that Naruto was able to impart to him from those no one else could hear or see.
He didn't want to broach the subject of Naruto's ability again so soon after finding out about it, but it was important. The ability to see ghosts would be a great benefit to Konoha in many ways, but Naruto would pay a heavy price if he still wanted to become shinobi.
"I thought that you'd perhaps like to talk to someone about Mamoru-san and the others," Kakashi queried lightly, hoping not to sound too interested. He didn't want Naruto to shy away from him.
"The dead people?" Naruto scowled and let go of Kakashi's arm. He crossed his arms and pouted, "I don't wanna talk about 'em."
"Naruto-kun," Kakashi faced Naruto and crouched down just outside of Naruto's door so that he was eye level with the boy, "I think it's important that you tell someone about what you see. It'll help."
Naruto cocked his head to the side, his blond hair flopping sideways into his eyes. He brushed it out of his field of vision, "Hari-chan won't talk to me 'bout it." He finally admitted, "I think-- I think something went wrong."
Kakashi felt his heart constrict. There wasn't anything he could do about stopping the Kyuubi from talking to Naruto except getting Jiraiya called back to Konoha to strengthen the seal. "Has he told you what he did?"
A scowl passed over Naruto's face, "He muttered something about opening pathways that can't be closed. Then he said that my chakra was keeping them open; the pathways, I mean."
"So," Kakashi rubbed a hand through his hair, "Hari-san opened up your mind so you could see ghosts, but now that your chakra has traversed the pathways he made, he can't close them again? Is that why you're still seeing ghosts?"
"I don't know," Naruto huffed, "Hari-chan made paths and said that I put chakra into them and now he can't close 'em." He shrugged defensively, "I didn't mean to."
"I know," Kakashi pulled Naruto into a hug, "It's okay." Kakashi could see an apartment mate of Naruto's glancing at him with incredulous eyes as he let himself into Naruto's neighboring apartment, but didn't let that stop him from comforting the boy. Naruto needed him more than he needed a reputation, especially inside of the village.
Kakashi couldn't find it in himself to tell Naruto that he would never be shinobi with his Kyuubi-given ability scaring him like it was. And there was only one man that Kakashi knew of in Konoha who could condition Naruto to not be afraid of the incorporeal dead.
"Are you sure that you don't want to talk to someone about it?" Kakashi asked again, "You know that shinobi die on missions;" he didn't want to crush Naruto's spirit by commenting on how many enemy shinobi usually died on a mission, or the assassination missions that they could be sent on, "Do you think that you could handle seeing your friends after they've died? Would you understand that they wouldn't be able to physically help you after they've died?"
Naruto hummed and ahhed over it for a long time and finally his head swung low and he sighed, looking at the floor, "I guess not. Do you-- Do you know someone I can talk to?"
He looked up in hope and Kakashi had to stop himself from melting under the force of Naruto's wide, pleading sky-blue eyes.
"I may know one person. We can see him tomorrow, if you want?"
"I wanna be shinobi!" Naruto exclaimed. He'd never really wanted anything else and he wasn't about to let this stop him, "You can take me to see your friend tomorrow! So I can go to the academy? Maybe Jiji will let me in early if I talk about it, yeah?"
"I can see what I can do about that," Kakashi stood, ruffled Naruto's hair, and watched him enter his apartment.
He had someone, several someones, to talk to.
-
Kakashi picked Naruto up the next morning, bright and early. Naruto was dressed in bright orange pants and a black tee-shirt under an orange jacket. He would have questioned Naruto about his choice in clothing if he hadn't know how the civilians in Konoha ignored the boy on purpose.
Naruto chatted away a mile a minute as Kakashi collected him into his arms and using the completely awesome shunshin, transported them into a building.
Naruto had no idea where he was or how he'd get home, but he still had Kakashi with him. His hand reached out and grasped Kakashi's hand tightly, "So, who's your friend you're takin' me to see?" Naruto questioned, spying a secretary at the desk writing on a plain white post-it.
"Well," Kakashi smiled down at Naruto, understanding exactly why the rather independent child had taken his hand, "Why don't we go see him and he can introduce himself?" He left his hand in Naruto's and Naruto leaned into his hip.
"Okay." Naruto was quiet for the rest of the walk to the office that Kakashi knew his 'friend' was in.
Kakashi had only sort-of warned Morino Ibiki about what was going to be happening today. It wasn't that he didn't want the man to know about Naruto's ability, but he wanted to have a little fun too, and what better way for him to get a laugh than to watch Ibiki possibly freak-out about security risks from ghosts?
The silver haired man knocked once on the door as a warning that he was coming in and then opened it, pushing Naruto just a little so he went inside the room first. He knew that there was no danger in this office, not with Ibiki in it.
Naruto grabbed his hand immediately and his eyes were the widest Kakashi had ever seen.
"Naruto-kun? What's wrong?" He crouched again, drawing Naruto under his arm in a protective movement. Naruto shook his head and looked up at him and Kakashi could see that the boy was almost scared. Not quite scared, but close. "Is there someone here?"
"Uhm--" Naruto licked his lips, "I-- He--"
"Kakashi-san, what's the meaning of this?" Ibiki's powerful voice filled the room and Kakashi waved a hand at him without looking up, telling Ibiki silently that he would be with him as soon as he was done paying attention to Naruto.
"What is it, Naruto-kun?"
"I--No-nothing," Naruto stuttered and blinked then turned back to Ibiki and kept his eyes steadily focused on only the man and nothing else.
"Alright," Kakashi hesitated then stood back up. He turned to Ibiki, "Morino Ibiki, this is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto-kun, my friend: Ibiki-san." He gestured between the two of them and Naruto raised a hand to wave.
"Hello Ibiki-ji-san." Naruto remembered seeing this man before, outside of Jiji's office. He'd called Naruto a brat and Naruto had just stuck his tongue out at him and ran off to see Kakashi. That had been before Kakashi had gone away for so long.
Ibiki's non-existent eyebrows rose at the suffix on his name. He wasn't anyone's 'uncle'."Naruto-kun. Kakashi-san." his dark eyes pinned Kakashi where the shinobi stood, "May I kindly ask why you are here?"
"Well," Kakashi completely ignored the killing intent flavored air in favor of a one-eyed, upside-down smile at the head of the Torture and Interrogation Department, "Naruto-kun here has a very special ability and he needs to talk to someone about it."
Ibiki assessed Naruto with a keen eye, asking Kakashi, "And you couldn't be the one to talk to him?"
Naruto gripped tight to Kakashi's leg, "Nii-chan knows. But--" He stuttered to a halt then licked his lips and tried again, "But you have more."
"I have more what?" Ibiki's growlish voice lowered and if Naruto had been any other child he would have found it scary. Instead he found it comforting. Ibiki sounded a little like Hari did when Hari was big and red.
"Dead people," Naruto said.
Ibiki jerked back, surprised enough that even with his impressive training he showed his shock. He quickly composed himself though, "And how do you know that?"
Naruto's gaze flickered from Ibiki to one of the men hovering over Ibiki's shoulders and then back to the scarred face, "I can see 'em."
Ibiki hunkered down, his knees feeling like they ought to creak, though they didn't. "Who do you see, Naruto-kun?"
"I see--" Naruto paused and glanced around the room, "They don't tell me their names," he pointed at the man who was half decapitated, "He says he died two days ago. You cut his head off. And that one," he gestured to one of the women who was bloody and grinning grotesquely, "She says that you--" He frowned and his face screwed up in concentration, "She says you used 'thumbtacks and a screwdriver'." Naruto shivered and leaned forward, confiding in the big man, "She has brains leaking out her eyeball. It's kinda creepy."
Ibiki stared at the boy, wide-eyed.
That information was confidential. That information was not yet available for people with clearance even as high as Kakashi had.
That information was not something he ever expected to hear from a small child.
"You--" Ibiki cleared his throat, "You can see people who have died. Around me." Ibiki wasn't sure if he meant or understood that Naruto could see the people who had died around him or if there were just dead people hovering around him.
It wasn't really a question, but Naruto figured that he was supposed to answer anyway.
"Yeah. You got a lot of 'em. Nii-chan only has a couple. I don't tell him about the dead either, but sometimes I tell him what they're screaming at people. I think it's creepy, but Nii-chan doesn't mind." Naruto shrugged his shoulders. He did think it was creepy and he sometimes thought Kakashi was even creepier for not finding it creepy. But Kakashi was his big brother and he'd never push the silver haired man away.
"Hn."
Ibiki stood up and looked over to Kakashi. Kakashi signaled that Naruto wanted to be a shinobi, but that this ability would hinder him. Ibiki gave a short nod of understanding. And he could; understand, that is. He understood that seeing ghosts of people you've killed, or friends who've died, would inhibit the killing edge that shinobi needed.
Naruto bit his lip hesitantly, "Ibiki-ji-san, do you want to know what they're saying?"
"Not really," Ibiki muttered, "But I assume that they say a lot?"
"The lady wants you dead. She doesn't like you. She also says that she lied," Naruto tilted his head to the side, "She just laughed and said that you'll never know who the traitor she contacted is now."
Ibiki sharpened up. This was interesting. If Naruto could get answers from the dead, he'd be a great boon to the T&I Department.
"Did she say who she met with?"
"--Uragiru Kokuzoku." Naruto's face tightened in fear and he grabbed tight to Kakashi's leg, burying his head in the soft material of his pants. Kakashi hugged Naruto tight.
"Naruto-kun?" Kakashi whispered and Naruto sniffled.
"She's screaming at me, Nii-chan," the boy whined softly. "I don't like it."
Ibiki raised his chin and stared at the ceiling. This was a situation that he had no idea what to do. It was probably the first time that he'd ever felt unsure about his next actions.
He wanted to help the boy, obviously, but deep in his heart, there was fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of Kyuubi, fear of Naruto himself.
It had been a long time since he'd felt as much fear as he did now.
It didn't help at all that he was worried about who else could get information from the dead.
A sudden thought occurred and Ibiki grinned maliciously. He could use the boy and help him at the same time. Two shinobi, one jutsu. Perfect.
"Naruto-kun," Ibiki bent down and rested his hand gently on Naruto's mop of blond hair, "Have you ever touched a ghost?"
Naruto looked up with wide eyes from Kakashi's vest and stared at the imposing man. Hari told him to trust the man. "No?" He answered unsurely. He'd tried to touch a ghost once, but his hand had gone right through it.
"Has a ghost ever hurt you?" Ibiki asked again, getting a feel for how to handle the child. He'd never been very good with small children in the first place. It was a wonder that his little brother even admitted to being related to him.
Naruto blinked, curious, "No?" He didn't know where Ibiki was going with his questions, but Hari seemed pleased enough with them. He wondered if Ibiki was really going to help him.
"Do you think the woman screaming at you can hurt you?"
Ibiki's voice was still soft and growly and Naruto rather liked it. He slowly crept from Kakashi's arms towards Ibiki. "She says things that hurt."
"But she can't hurt you," Ibiki let Naruto cuddle up to him. He wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to do - was he supposed to hug the boy? - so he didn't make any movements at all.
"You're right," Naruto's lips curled up in a smile, "But she's still screaming." He didn't like that, "She hates that I told you the name you didn't get when she was alive."
Ibiki nodded. He could understand why the dead prisoner would hate that she'd managed to take her information to the grave with her only to blurt it out to someone who could tell her torturer what she'd died to keep. Frustration would be the least of what he would feel.
"Naruto-kun, is she trying to touch you?" He was curious if the ghosts would actually try to harm Naruto for telling their secrets.
Naruto shook his head and reached up, wrapping his arms around Ibiki's neck. It took all the training Ibiki had ever required to not push the boy away. Or, you know, kill him accidently. "She's just screaming. Hari-chan says that she knows she can't touch me, so she doesn't even bother to try."
In front of Ibiki, Kakashi stiffened and Ibiki looked at the elite shinobi sharply. He wouldn't try to get Naruto to tell him about this Hari that had just been introduced into their conversations, not right now, but he would be having a serious discussion with Kakashi after Naruto left, that was for sure.
"Why are you scared of them, if they don't hurt you?"
"I-- I thought it would be cool, you know? To see things that no one else could, so Hari-chan said that he could help me see dead people, but then they scared me because they were dead and bleeding and I never talked to them and they never talked to me and now Hari-chan can't stop me from seeing them because of something that I did and--"
"Shh," Kakashi reached out and stroked Naruto's back gently, "It's okay now, no one's mad and they can't hurt you."
Ibiki slowly brought his arms up around Naruto's shoulders and tentatively tried a hug. Naruto didn't seem to mind, so he didn't let go immediately.
Kakashi knew that Ibiki felt uncomfortable holding Naruto, but it was better to get Naruto to trust Ibiki than to preserve his own dignity at this point.
Once Naruto had calmed down, he leaned back to look Ibiki in the face and Ibiki let him go with easy hands. He smiled up at his new friend, "Thank you, Ibiki-ji-san."
Ibiki smiled back and Naruto thought his smile looked funny, like it was supposed to mean or something, and he patted him on the head gently, "You're welcome, Naruto-kun."
Naruto looked over to see the woman staring at him with anger in the eye she had left. He shivered and turned back to Ibiki, "She's still mad."
"But she isn't hurting you," Ibiki said and Naruto nodded. He didn't know how the man had done it, but he was relieved that she'd stopped yelling at him.
Kakashi pulled Naruto into his arms and stood up, Ibiki following his action closely, "Naruto, would you like to keep talking now?"
"Can-- Maybe later?" Naruto laid his head on Kakashi's shoulder and blinked slowly, "I'm tired."
"That's fine," Ibiki smiled again and Naruto giggled softly at the not-mean smile. Ibiki wasn't used to smiling, he could see; just like Kakashi wasn't used to laughing. "Why don't you come back later, maybe tomorrow, and we'll talk again?"
"Okay." Naruto sighed and relaxed, closing his eyes. It was a lot easier to ignore the dead when he wasn't looking at them.
Ibiki watched Kakashi take the child away and sat behind his desk. He pulled out a handful of papers and started drafting a course to desensitize Naruto to the dead that he could see.
His lips twitched as he added several lessons in an interrogation room for Naruto to watch someone die so they could first, find out how quickly someone became a ghost, and second, see how well it worked at an interrogation technique, threatening the shinobi who thought they could take their secrets to the grave.
He quickly penned a note for his second in command to contact him as soon as he came in on a post-it and as he left for lunch, slapped the pale pink post-it on his 2IC's office door.
**To be Continued**