So sorry for the delay. Honestly didn't think I'd be writing another chapter until December. I've been really busy with real life and grad school, I haven't had much time to even think up the direction for this story. After piecing this chapter over the last couple weeks, this is what I've settled on.


Ch 9

Naruto vaguely listened to Danzo-sama as he explained about some kind of bullshit as to why the Chunin exams were held and how they balanced the power between countries.

Naruto could almost scoff at his speech, because looking around he was in a sea of Leaf genin and one team of Sand genin. "Not very diverse," he thought to himself.

For some reason, Naruto was expecting some kind of preliminary fight to determine who would go to the third round, though perhaps that was a weird moment of déjà vu from another life.

But with only the Sand nin, Ino-Shika-Cho, Team 7, and Gai-sensei's team, there was enough for a decent, but not too large, bracket for the final round.

Wait... what happened to Team 8?...

"Hinata, Kiba, Shino... they didn't make it," Naruto thought solemnly.

When Naruto regained focus, he looked up to see a screen appearing from the wall. "I didn't even know we had that kind of technology."

The names of all the genin in the room appeared on the screen in alphabetical order. The letters began to jumble and rearrange.

"The contestants will now be randomized to fight in the finals," Danzo-sama announced.

Naruto looked with vacant (but eager) eyes up at the screen. No other genin reacted to this at all.

"Kankuro vs. Tenten

Rock Lee vs. Shikamaru Nara

Ino Yamanaka vs. Sakura Haruno

Garaa vs. Choji Akimichi

Sasuke Uchiha vs. Temari

Neji Hyuuga vs. Naruto Uzumaki"

6 pairs. That meant 6 winners, three fights. 3 winners and a battle royale.

Naruto looked in his bracket and shuddered at the the thought of competing against Sasuke. He mind raced as he remembered the ruthless deaths of his classmates by the last Uchiha. Even with his lack of emotions, a screw was definitely loose somewhere else.

Sasuke looked at the board with satisfaction, hoping that Naruto would miraculously beat Neji so that he could finally challenge him and utterly destroy him. If not, he'd settle to ass-whoop the stuck up Hyuuga.

Sakura looked at the board with a calculating mind. Her odds against Ino? Better than anyone else on there.

Kakashi narrowed his gaze as well. Were these match-ups really that random? Close up his chakra points so Naruto couldn't use the nine-tails? Assuming Danzo-sama didn't know about the seal on his stomach, it was the perfect way to make him an even match-up for the Uchiha. And if Sasuke took out Naruto, he'd eventually go up against Garaa. Just what was Danzo-sama planning? An international incident innocently portrayed as a justified killing of the Kazekage's son and weapon?

After the match-ups were complete, the genin were instructed to meet at the arena in one month's time. They could train as much as they'd like in order to prepare.

After they were dispersed, Kakashi was called to stay behind.

"What can I help you with, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi just itching to say that with a less little shit in his mouth.

"Kakashi, I want you to focus your efforts on training the Uchiha. Teach him the chidori and how to master his eyes."

Kakashi's slight frown was unnoticed beneath his mask. "As you wish," he said with a tense nod and bow.


Kakashi met his expecting team waiting for him outside of the tower so that he could escort them out of the Forest of Death.

He scanned their faces for any emotions and found none. Even Naruto was unreadable, just as he had been after the Wave mission. "That is a good thing," Kakashi kept trying to assure himself.

He hated how broken Naruto was. All because of the nine-tails and Danzo. To watch your peers slowly slip away from what makes them human to cold blooded killers, a thing Kakashi had experienced and had tried to end via suicide missions. But somehow.. he always made it fucking back.

As his mind wandered back to the present he realized his genin were waiting without so much as cough for his orders. Even his loud boisterous blonde was silent and still.

Kakashi swallowed the lump in his throat before continuing with bored eyes, "Sasuke, Danzo...-sama has asked me to personally mentor you this month. We will meet on top of the Hokage Mountain at 7am sharp tomorrow morning to begin our month long training. Be sure to pack enough supplies for the month. We won't be dropping back to the village anytime soon."

Kakashi stole a glance at Naruto's eyes and was almost relieved when he saw a knowing shimmer in his eyes. It hadn't been Kakashi's choice.

"Sakura, continue your studies at the hospital. I think your fine chakra control will be your best asset. You have to win the match before Ino can use her clan techniques to jump bodies. Yamanaka's are about mind games, so don't let her get in your head. You may benefit from a strong fighting style, one that Lady Tsunade used to use."

"Naruto, I'll find you another jounin sensei to train you while I'm away with Sasuke. Be good."

With the little Kakashi said to Naruto, the genin was confused. "No advice or pep talk? Just a 'you're someone else's problem now, see you later?' No, that can't be right. That's not the Kakashi I know... or is it? How much do I know about Kakashi anyways?"

What if he really does serve Danzo Dick and this is all just one big ruse? What if the seal was Danzo's plan all along and now he was stuck with no chakra monster or any contact keeping him sane in this fucked up world he had involuntarily stumbled upon.

Despite his swirling depression, Naruto's body automatically followed his comrades as they turned to leave the second test's training ground.

At the entrance they all dispersed, getting ready for their month ahead.


Naruto avoided going home as long as possible. His legs sluggishly dragged as he kept his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket, eyes downcast and vacant.

The face hidden behind the mask, calm and collected, was a facade for the way his brain was working on over drive.

He had felt alone his entire life, and yet, somehow he was more empty than ever. Holding in this huge secret, only bearable with the help of someone else taking off some of the weight, and that someone was leaving him for a month to train his other emotionless teammate.

And yet he knew this wasn't Kakashi's decision. He knew that he was just "following orders." But fuck, he wished this time Kakashi would have disobeyed, just for him.

He wouldn't be able to steal a laugh or knowing smile. A flicker of understanding from a lone gray eye. And on top of that, he was getting another sensei, who didn't understand a thing about him.

He stood in front of his doorway, relieved and yet too anxious to go inside. He steeled himself for a month of loneliness as he pushed open the door.

Walking to his bedroom, his eyes raised from the floor boards to his window, and held back a gasp when he saw his silver-haired sensei lounging there waiting for him.

"Yo," he placated with his usual hand gesture.

"Kaka-sensei, what are you-?"

"I was given orders Naruto. I never wanted to leave you to train Sasuke, and I won't."

"But aren't you-"

"When Sasuke's asleep, I'll shushin back to the village to train you at night. I would never abandon you, Naruto."

"Those who abandon their friends are worse than scum," Naruto said, lowering his mask with a cheeky smile.

"There he is," thought Kakashi, who responded with an eye crinkle.

"Naruto, let me look at the seal on your stomach."

Naruto lifted his shirt to find blank tan skin. His eyebrows furrowed until Kakashi chided, "Channel some chakra."

He did, revealing the 8 prong seal with the counterbalancing 5 prong on top of it. It didn't feel right, and he felt off balance, like something was missing.

The next thing Naruto knew, he was lying down in shallow water, gently lapping against his ears, and rippling in an cold echo of space.

He slowly propped himself up on his elbows, wondering how he wasn't sinking into the water, and took in his surroundings. Looked like a sewer, and dead in front of him, was a cage.

He gaped at the long bars that reached up endlessly as he could see no ceiling. But there was a chill in the air that Naruto just couldn't place. Hatred, anger, power. It left a cotton taste in his mouth.

He peered deeper into the cage, only to be met with large, white, ominous eyes.

"So you're finally here, you worthless piece of shit," growled the ancient chakra monster.

"What are you- wait who the fuck are you? What is this place?" Naruto quickly made to his feet and pointed an accusatory finger.

The Kyuubi snorted, "We're in your mind, idiot." He let that sink in for a minute. "So who do you think I am?"

Naruto pinched his eyes closed and thought about this strange situation.

"Are you... are the..." he lowered his voice in a whisper as if he was keeping this a secret between the two of them, "...the Kyuubi?"

"Why are you whispering you idiot? This is your mind for fuck's sake, no one but me can hear you. And since I am the Kyuubi, I already know your secret."

Naruto's draw dropped and a fly sputtered out.

"What the hell have you been doing you puny human?! First you try to drug yourself and I had to use a lot of my chakra for DAYS to fix your brain damage, and then you go and get a seal put on you that cuts off your access to my chakra! Fucking pathetic. And what's even worse is that piece of fabric clinging to your snotty nose hiding the marks I gave you! Talk about ungratefulness. Come a little closer to the cage, Naruto, and I'll take off an arm from you for payment."

"How do you know my name?!" The boy demanded.

"You think I wouldn't know the name of my jailer for the last 12 years? You really are dense."

"Then maybe you should be the one giving me payment! Call it rent for the last 12 years of free housing."

"You think I chose to be sealed into you?! You of all moronic, annoying, loud mouthed brats. God, I get sick just thinking about how much sleep I've lost to your annoying voice."

But now that Kurama thinks about it, he hasn't really seen that side of him for a long time. In fact, he hasn't seen the kid this riled up since before his graduation from SAMA.

Maybe Kurama misses the side that reminds him of that bitch Kushina. Isn't her chakra still floating around here somewhere? Damn that woman.

Maybe Kurama is more pissed at the Uchiha and Danzo-sama to waste his time hating Naruto. Besides, a controlled Naruto is a controlled Kurama, and Kurama has been controlled for the last damn time.

Kurama glares down at his jailer, and his jailer glares back, clearly not backing down. Now this was the Naruto Kurama knew. That annoying mantra to never give up and save everyone or whatever.

"Get the fuck out of here," The Kyuubi whips his tails at Naruto, sending him back to the waking world.

"-ruto. Naruto. Oi!"

He felt his shoulders being shaken and he blinked up into the gray and red eyes of his sensei who was wearing a worried expression. Coming back into awareness, he realized where he had just been and who he had just talked to.

"Holy shit, you'll never guess who I just talked to!"

"The Kyuubi, I'm guessing." Kakashi deadpanned.

Naruto's face betrayed none of his naive shock, "How did you know?"

"He talked to me, too."

"What did he say?"

Kakashi shrugged and looked away, "Nothing important."

"EEHHH?!"


Kakashi's fingers lit up with blue fire on the tips. He had learned this seal from Minato when he was on pregnant-Kushina duty, just in case the nine-tails made plans to jump ship early. It was an easy seal to place and release, but it was known only by a few masters. A well kept secret.

The seal was designed to unbalance any victim's chakra, making it difficult to mold and manipulate. But for a jinchuuriki, it would mean unbalancing the chakra from its beast.

Too bad Kakashi had never gotten a chance to use it back then.

But now, he laid his fingers on the blonde's stomach and turned his wrist like unlocking a door with a key. He quickly became aware of a clawed hand wrapped around his wrist and red eyes staring back at his instead of blue.

"You," Not-Naruto growled.

"Me," Kakashi answered lighlty, a little confused.

"You're not like the rest," the low voice grumbled.

Kakashi nonanswered him with a raise of his eyebrow and narrowing of his eye. His slide his hitae-ite up to reveal his sharingan, which made the red eyes on Naruto pull back slightly.

Kakashi didn't. "What do you want, Kyuubi?"

"A little appreciation would be nice. I did save your student from being brain damaged like the rest of them, and curiously unlike you."

"How can you tell?" Kakashi wondered if he knew from Naruto or could tell on his own.

"Being a malevolent ancient chakra construct born of hate and rage, I can sense negative emotions. And you, Hatake, are swimming in them. Unlike all the other humans I could easily rip apart. I feel nothing at all from them."

Kakashi nodded. This meant the Kyuubi trusted him, or at least verified he wasn't on the pill.

"You're playing a dangerous game. And you're involving my host, which I don't remember agreeing to. As long as I'm protecting him from that poison, you WILL get him out of this hellhole before I really lose him."

Kakashi took in his words, noting how depressed Naruto has been, so overtly closed off, even in the privacy of each other's company. Evidently the Kyuubi cared, too.

He smirked with a eye smile, "You miss him, too." It was more a statement than a question.

With that, the red eyes became furious and Naruto's features pouted. Without warning, Naruto's body went limp beneath his fingertips, and he grabbed the waist of the boy before he slammed his head into the floor. Fucking Fox.

And with that Naruto was awake, grumbling about a stupid fox and paying rent with a little more young playfulness in his eyes that Kakashi had been desperately missing.


Kakashi awoke to a wet substance soaking into his thigh. He was awake and alert in a second, his ANBU training kicking in and his brain working on overdrive.

He touched the liquid with his fingers tips, bringing them up to face to inspect them in the glow of the tv. Clear.

Not blood.

He could relax. As soon as he did, he realized a small weight was close to the growing puddle on his leg, looking down to see a blonde mop of hair and whiskered face unceremoniously kinked to one side, mouth open, and drool sliding out.

Kakashi took a moment to watch the blonde breathe in his sleep, a gentle snore every now and then with his inhales. Kakashi pulled up his headband and opened the sharingan eye, taking in this moment to remember forever.

He carded his fingers through Naruto's hair, showing a level of affection for another human being that he hadn't received since Minato-sensei was alive. He wondered if Minato was watching him now, with that gentle, understanding smile he always wore.

Kakashi could never be Minato. He could never be Naruto's father. He already failed him as a brother, leaving him to grow up alone (despite that fact that he'd been ordered not to, Kakashi still felt responsible for the pain those years of loneliness must have given Naruto).

He sighed, heavily. Now Naruto needed a sensei, and he could only manage that part time.

"Hey, Fox," Kakashi blurted out before realizing is ridiculous it was to talk to thin air, hoping the chakra monster inside Naruto will listen, "Take care of him. Don't let him be so alone. I'll be around when I can."

Silence met him for a while until Naruto rolled on his lap, eyes scrunching while muttering, "shnoobid foksh" (slurred stupid fox) and Kakashi smiled to himself knowing the nine-tails had gotten the message.

Turning off the abandoned tv that had once played a movie they had fallen asleep to, Kakashi scooped Naruto in his arms and headed to his bed. He tucked in the blonde, a soft smile gracing his features as he watched the young boy settle into the covers.

Once last look at the sleeping boy, and Kakashi was out the window.


Sakura found herself in the hospital's archive rooms, staring at a picture of a young woman with blond pigtails and large breasts. Her eyes drifted down to her own chest and then back to the picture. A slight frown curled at the bottom of her lips. It was a fact of life that she was not gifted with breasts like other women.

Rummaging through the file, there wasn't much on this "Tsunade Senju," a majority of it looking wet stained and browning at the edges.

But from what she could tell, this Tsunade had been a genius in her time. Her time... hmm it doesn't say a time of death in her file, but she also doesn't live in Konoha.

She left the papers to head to the break room, hoping to catch her current supervisor for some information on the Senju.

"Lady Tsunade, hmm? The best in the field. She left during the time of the Third Hokage, something about a boyfriend killed in the line of duty. An honorable way to die if you ask me, but she left shortly after and hasn't taken on an apprentice from Konoha since."

"So there's no chance she'll be my sensei?" Sakura asked.

"She punches anyone she meets from Konoha straight through the wall."

"How does she do that, do you know? I'm trying to figure out a way to use my chakra offensively."

The doctor looked thoughtful, thinking of the short times she had seen Tsunade in battle, "I believe she had perfect chakra control and she created her own technique. I'm not sure how she did it, but she seemed to gather chakra into a body part, her hand for example, and release it on contact with whatever she was hitting. It looked like she had superhuman strength, but it was really her precise chakra control."

"Has anyone else tried to replicate her teachings?"

"Not that I know of. Anyone who has tried usually ends up getting their arms blown off, the blowback from the hit too much for their arm to handle. Tsunade knew how to accommodate for that I'm guessing, but I couldn't guess as to how."

"Hmmm," Sakura remained thoughtful. Well, this was more than she had gotten from just staring at the woman's pictures and reading up on some medicine she had invented.

Suddenly a code alarm sounded, causing the doctor and apprentice to jump to their feet.

Rushing into the ER, a shinobi shining in his own blood was being wheeled in. Sakura took a minute to survey the scene.

The doctors rushed, but not frantically. No one was yelling, talking calmly to each other. No one shot a sympathetic glance to the patient. No one's heart was pumping out of their chest. No one was scared of death.

She remained thoughtful, reminiscing of a time she had cried when she had scraped her knee on the playground. How Ino's face had gone pale at the sight of blood.

She wondered why she had reacted that way to a minor cut, why Ino had yelled and screamed for her mother. Why was it so easy to walk up to a mutilated body and begin her job as a healer without any wariness or doubt?

Why did Tsunade leave a perfect Konoha? Why did she hurt her fellow Leaf nin? Perhaps she was looking for someone to figure out what she had. To be a great frontline medic as she had once been.

Sakura was resolved, as she pieced flesh back together with a preciseness that teetered on her being gentle. She would learn how to become strong. She wasn't scared, no. Determined.


Sasuke followed the hand signs Kakashi made as chakra flowed through his palm and lightening began to crackle in the air. A screeching noise almost threatened to edge at his sanity, but his focus continued on his sensei's jutsu.

"And that's how it's done. Give it a try."

Sasuke slowly followed the hand signs he had memorized, concentrating his chakra as he has seen Kakashi's flow.

He found that the lightening flowed easily through his body, quickly gathering in his hand until he realized it was too quick. He couldn't control the shock of energy, and let it go, exploding a hole in front of him and sending him flying.

His back hit a soft pad, realizing it was the vest of his sensei.

"Good. Now don't let it go."

Sasuke tried over and over and over again. Each time huffing and puffing a little harder. Once he finally had managed to keep the lightening flowing freely in his palms, the screeching sounds of a 1000 annoying ass birds stimulating his cochlea and burning the hairs on his arms.

Suddenly, the world was spotting with blackness, a wave of nausea hitting him full force. He wonders briefly, it the Dobe had ever felt this level of exhaustion. The stamina freak and chakra monster had always able to out do him when it came to endurance. Sasuke didn't like not being the best in everything. He liked it when Naruto failed and he was seen as superior.

He grit his teeth to keep his legs from buckling, but found in the end, he couldn't stop his eyes from falling shut. A hand clamped over his, directing his chakra away from himself and dissipating the sound of those fucking birds. He felt an arm around his waist, and in that moment, felt safe to fall.

Exhaustion over took him and he was washed down the stream into the land of sleep.

Kakashi held the slack Uchiha in his arms, smirking at his unconscious form. He laid the boy in his sleeping bag, taking care to cover him in extra blankets. Kakashi put up a barrier and a few traps, popped a shadow clone into existence, and sushined to a certain blonde's residence.


Waiting those three minutes for the ramen to cook in the cup was agonizing. Naruto slammed his forehead on the table, not even bothering to wince at the self inflected pain in an effort to keep his sanity.

Ebisu had given him no breaks, not even to eat. Not even Kakashi was that much of a slave driver. It almost seemed like Ebisu had a personal vendetta against him that he just couldn't place. He knew the man shouldn't have emotions, but he treated Naruto like he hated him.

"He does."

Naruto startled at the voice, looking around frantically for the source.

"You're not going to find me out there you imbecile."

Naruto frowned at his cup ramen. He wasn't going crazy was he?

"Maybe. But I'm not your therapist. I'm your prisoner."

"Oh it's you. Well... uh.. shut up you damned fox!" Naruto yelled dramatically.

After that, Kurama did. Not a word. Not even the white noise of buzzing passed through his brain. Silence.

Naruto slumped at the feeling, a familiar weight on his chest he pushed away time and time again. The feeling of being so alone.

The gnawing achiness of emptiness.

A sadness washed over him and his eyes felt heavy like they had tears that refused to be shed. He slumped in his seat, leaning his head back against the chair, cup ramen forgotten.

He felt his body want to slip away from his physical and now emotional exhaustion. He was just starting to doze off, or he had fallen asleep for a short while and hadn't realized it, when a hand rested on his shoulder, jolting him back to consciousness with a whispered "Yo" in his ear.

"Miss me?" The man behind the mask smirked with the joy of a prankster.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted, too excited to be contained. "You came back!"

"I said I would, didn't I?"

"Well yeah but, I didn't think..."

"My cute little genin has no faith in me."

"Well, you don't have the best track record of showing up to places, Kaka-sensei."

Kakashi pouted but moved to rustle Naruto's hair anyways.

His eye glanced to the cooling cup ramen, "Are you going to eat that?"

"Oh yeah!" Naruto's eyes lit up suddenly, "I totally forgot... Ramen.." his mouth watered and he dug in.

Kakashi chuckled as he watched the blonde dig in. After Naruto dramatically wiped his mouth with his arm, signally his completion of the meal, he looked brightly into Kakashi's eyes.

"Well then, let's get started," Kakashi said a little too sadistically.


Thanks for your patience with my sporadic updates! Hope you enjoyed. Not looking forward to writing a bunch of battle scenes for the chunin exams, so I may shorten them quite a bit.

And did I take out team 8 for convenience? Hell yeah. Again, hate writing fights. Prelims and finals, yikes, I'll just get right to the chase instead. Besides, the battles in the chunin exams never ended up mattering anyways. I might reveal what happened later... who knows?

Anyone notice the one-liner from the Princess Bride?