I do not own Naruto

NanaTsunade...- Kakashi I believe is not blind but as I stated before in a previous chapter, sometimes they have to be made to see before they can truly see...

Chapter 9

Kakashi found himself fighting the urge to hug Naruto senseless or beat the crap out of him for being such an idiot.

The youth was still in the hospital alongside Sakura, Yamato as well as the rest of Team 10 and himself. The only one of them able to leave though at the moment was everyone but Naruto.

Naruto had indeed completed the Raisenshuriken as his father the Yondaime had tried to create and would have if not for the Kyuubi. Tsunade had given him an ultimatum essentially, before she had sent him as well as Sakura and Yamato to aide them.

Essentially learn the Raisenshuriken now...or lose your friends.

So Naruto had gotten over halfway through the process before he had taken off after his sensei and Team 10...much like his father would have. Kakashi finds himself remembering with a fond smile.

But the smile turns to a sad one as he remembers other things...

There were many things his former teacher who had told Kakashi many times as he trained him, that he would do once he was able to have a family. Events that he would have counted on Kakashi to be there to do as well as his other students if he could not...

Giving a small sound of pained regret as he feels that in many ways he had failed the blonde, he is stunned to find tears flowing down his cheeks. Ones that he did not realize he was giving until a young brown haired woman, who was quite familiar to many brushed them away with a clean cloth.

"You were worried about him weren't you?"

Startled to find Shizune looking at him with a kind face, Kakashi looks away without saying a word. Never before has he allowed himself to give in to his emotions. At least not since the deaths of his former teammates...as well as his father...

He had thought there was nothing left in him to really cry about.

"He understands more then most think you know." Shizune said without really directing it towards anyone in particular. "He is just so used to playing what people expect..."

Turning to her, Kakashi finds himself staring at the profile of the young woman with a gaze that was a mixture of emotions. Some good and some bad...but within that gaze was also a willingness to listen.

"People had always had expected him to be a fool, to be happy and to be so strong in his beliefs. Today I saw Naruto...as I had done only once before. He is very much like what they expect, but one can not be that way all the time. You can only fill a bottle up with so much water before it flows over the top and makes a mess. But for Naruto...when that bottle breaks, who will he turn to help him clean it up?"

With that said Shizune walks away, leaving Kakashi to think. And to once again regret over his negligence of the youth who at the moment was surrounded by many of his friends. Sakura was lying on the bed beside him, feeding him ramen as the Fifth worked on bandaging his arm.

The jutsu that Naruto had completed did indeed work wonders, and the Leaf had taken their first real Akatsuki prisoner. Kakuzu had been captured because of Naruto's jutsu, but the use of it ranked as a forbidden art. For it did do its job and damage Kakuzu to the point all his chakra coils were closed up.

But if it wasn't for the Fox demon inside him, it would have done the same thing to Naruto.

Already he as well as many of the other Shinobi, had been told that Naruto was never to use it again unless in dire emergencies. It would be ranked a forbidden A-class jutsu skill, because of the backlash could kill most ninjas who dared to use it.

That's one reason why he wanted to yell at Naruto and beat him senseless himself. Watching the battle the blonde had with that Akatsuki member, he had observed the damage that skill was doing to both parties in the fight. And he had told Naruto that he should not use it...that it was taking a lot out of him.

The truth of the matter was though if it was not for Naruto going against him and directly using it once more. Kakuzu might have killed them all regardless of the fact Shikamaru had succeeded in getting rid of his partner Hidan. The way the genius had done it, though made Kakashi smile.

His dear friend Asuma would have been proud.

Finding his eyes drifting to the blonde, he knows someone else who had long since left this life would have been proud as well.

"Sensei...how...how do I tell him?"

Hearing the voice of the long gone Yondaime Kakashi remembers...

"There is never a good time to spill a secret Kakashi, Rin..." The blonde intones thoughtfully. They had overheard over their return of how Anko had spilled the secrets of her former Master Orichamaru to a Hokage who was not at all happy.

"Why...isn't it better that it's out? No one can ever get hurt like that again!" Rin exclaimed.

"Someone is always bound to get hurt and regret ever having told. Young and innocent alike..." The older man states quietly as he steps in quickly to prevent villagers from attacking the young girl who had betrayed her own sensei to save many.

Anko staring at them in a mixture of confusion smiles her thanks before she takes off in a flash...

"But in the end although the pain is strong, in the end it is worth it for the one who told...and the one who is told."

"And what is it worth Sensei?" A young Kakashi asked. His eye still bandaged from Obito's death months before. The youth struggled to adjust in training now to get used to it and to its gift.

"Hope and freedom Kakashi...hope and freedom."

Hope that their secret would be accepted and freedom in the knowledge that they had done what they had to do. Telling it to the person who needed to hear it the most...

With that in mind, he opened the door to Naruto's room gesturing for all to leave them alone for a moment. Tsunade looking at him with a puzzled expression for a moment realizes what Kakashi intends to do and nods her head in acceptance.

"Okay Naruto...as of this moment, you are off the duty roster until I say so..."

"Aaawww Baa-chan!"

Glaring at the blonde with her fist raised, Naruto used his arm smartly as a shield much to Kakashi's amusement and Tsunade's anger.

"You wouldn't hurt a wounded man would you Baa-chan?" Naruto asked innocently and with an impish grin. Glaring at him, Tsunade just gives him a look...

"Just you wait you little brat...just you wait." She replied with a smile on her face that despite her anger she couldn't help but have. Leaving the two alone now, Naruto gives a smile, but one that is guarded, as he thinks his former teacher is going to yell for not listening to him.

"What is it Kakashi-sensei?"

Hearing the cool and guarded tone in his voice, Kakashi knew Naruto was upset at what he perceived was his virtual abandonment to finish learning the jutsu with Yamato.

"I'm sorry..."

Startled by those two words, a pair of blue eyes had to blink several times as they took his confession in. "Sorry? For what?"

"There is something I have been meaning to tell you...something I should have noticed long ago...but never really did." The copy Ninja said as looked at the confused eyes of the youth before him. He hopes that Naruto will forgive him...forgive him for being even more blind then ever.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

The older man looks into the similar features of his former teacher and leader, sighing as he reassures the blonde that he was simply trying to find the right words. Kakashi then turns towards the window as he stands up. His courage failing him he simply blurts out what he was struggling so tactfully to tell him...

"I know who your father was..."

A silence feels the room, one that emanates from both inside it. The only emotion within are ones of fear...and anger...and confusion.

"What?" Came the voice of his former student, quiet and in shock over those words spoken with such ferocity that he almost choked on the water he was drinking.

"I know who your father was..." Kakashi said quietly and with shame. "It was my former teacher...the man who taught me."

It takes only a moment, before Naruto realizes whom Kakashi was referring to. Cheeks are slowly tinged with red as an anger and sadness overwhelm him. "Is that why...is that why you ignored me? Because...I..."

"No! No Naruto...I!"

"Go...just...go." Naruto stated with such vehemence that Kakashi obeyed

Leaving the youth alone in his room and Kakashi crying inside with regret and sadness...as he walked away...