Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. If it did, Sasuke would've died by now (I apologize to all Sasuke-fans, but the last few dozen manga chapters have put him deep into my hate list).

A/N: The chapter is finally done! I'm sorry to have left you all with such a big cliffhanger, but May has been a busy month for me. Primarily, this one fact; Senior finals. Which leads me to my reason for working to get this posted today. Yesterday was my last day of high school! YES!! So this is posted in celebration of this event. :D (To be honest, I had wanted to get this up yesterday, but my computer was being annoying, and refused to let me.)

Thank you to all reviewers, but especially 'Wandering Hitokiri', who made the 200 spot! :hands you virtual cookie of your favorite flavor: Yay! The reviews for this last chapter in particular were...amusing, to say the least. rofl But it's reactions like that that make cliff-hangers so fun to do. :D (I'm sorry, I know that they're irritating to get, but they're really fun to do lol)

One more note to those who don't know before I let you read the long awaited chapter; Narashi is finally colored! And it looks wonderful. As usual the link can be found on my profile.

Key (quote marks ARE important):

thoughts

'Naruto speaking'

'Kakashi speaking'

'Kyuubi speaking'

'all three speaking' (or various combinations of just two of them)

Chapter 10: Revealing

Kakashi stared at Narashi's true form in open shock and a little bit of fear. Shakily, he asked;

"Who, and what are you?"

Narashi's mind raced, frantically trying to come up with an explanation of how Kakashi could see through the illusion.

'Crap! Hey, Kyuubi! I thought you said that no one would be able to see through the illusion you put up! So how come Kakashi has obviously seen past it?' Naruto demanded, panicking.

'How should I know?!' Kyuubi responded angrily. I'm just as surprised as you are. No mortal should be able to dispel one of my illusions. You know as well as I that one of those "guards" was an Uchiha who no doubt had their doujutsu activated. Since my great presence has obviously remained unknown, the genjutsu held. So you explain to me how a single, immature Sharingan in the hands of a child, who barely knows how to control it, can do something that a pair of mature eyes can not.'

'You're supposed to be the 'all-knowing, thousands year old demon'! If even you can't explain it, then how do you expect me to? I know next to nothing about how the Sharingan works, only what it can do. But if you want one, here's what I got; your control on the illusion slipped a little, which allowed Kakashi to see our tail and ears.'

Kyuubi's chakra spiked, as if he was rising angrily to his paws, snarling. 'Don't you dare blame-!'

'Will the two of you stop arguing, and let me think?!' Kakashi shouted, finally losing his patience, the normally long fuse cut short by the shock of younger Kakashi's sudden discovery.

Surprisingly, even Kyuubi backed down at the sudden outburst from the normally calm jounin. The two quietly stepped down, allowing the other man to handle the situation.

Narashi sighed, running a hand through his silver-gold hair, before looking at Kakashi, his expression blank and unreadable. "What exactly do you see Kakashi?" he quietly asked.

'Let's figure that out first before anybody starts pointing fingers.' Naruto and Kyuubi wisely kept their mouths shut.

During the few minutes where Narashi was arguing with himself, Kakashi had managed to get over most of his initial shock and fear, and now his face was just as unreadable as Narashi's. 'Arguing with himself' was an apt description of what Kakashi had just seen Narashi's strange chakra do. After standing stock still in shock for a moment, the blue and red chakras started 'butting heads', seeming to fight for dominance over the other. Just as the red chakra spiked dangerously, enough that Kakashi felt the hair on the back of his neck rise in alarm, the white chakra suddenly rose angrily, subduing the other two, even the obviously stronger red. Now, while before the three chakras had been evenly dispersed amongst Narashi's body, white obviously held dominance.

Hearing Narashi's question, Kakashi explained what he could see of his multiple chakras, as well as what he'd just witnessed.

When he finished, Narashi sighed again, his ears folding back in irritation, muttering a curse under his breath. He turned around and walked over to one of the many fallen trees in the field, which the two shinobi had been using as a bench.

"Cover your eye," he tossed over his shoulder at Kakashi. "This is going to take a while and there's no point in wasting your chakra."

Kakashi did as ordered, though he remained standing while Narashi took a seat. While the sense of trust and respect that he held for the man, which had increased over the past few days, surprisingly remained as strong as before, it was overshadowed br wariness at the discovery that Narashi, if the ears and tail were anything to go by, was just not human.

"Well," Narashi started, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, so go ahead and ask. I can't promise that I'll answer them all, but any that I can, I will," I'd rather not explain anything if I don't have to, so having Kakashi ask me questions is better than me just telling him any information.

Dozens of questions exploded through Kakashi's head, each demanding to be answered. One in particular, though, kept coming up to the forefront of his mind. Kakashi hesitated a little before asking, actually a little wary of Narashi's answer. "How..." he paused for a second, then started again. "How do you have White Chakra?"

'White chakra? What is that exactly? I know, from what young-Kakashi said, that the white represents you, Kakashi-sensei, but I just figured it was another side effect of the fusion. But from the way he said it, it sound like it's actually really important. So what is it?'

'I'll explain later, Naruto. For now, all you need to know is that White Chakra is something of a kekkei genkai, exclusive only to the Hatake family.'

'You mean you have a - ?!'

'Later, Naruto.'

'Save your questions, Gaki,' Kyuubi interjected before Naruto could continue pushing for answers. 'A discussion about a bloodline is too complicated to talk about right now. There's someone else who needs answers right now, anyway, so there's no time.'

Narashi looked at the young teenager standing across from him. "Honestly," he started, thinking carefully on his answer, "I didn't even know I had it. Not until you told me at least."

'Which is actually true, I didn't know I had it. Not in this body, at least.'

'Yeah. I just figured our chakras merged as well. I mean, it is made up of a combination of physical and spiritual energies, and all that.'

'You've just answered your own question. We may share the same body, and so the same physical energy. But our souls are still separate, (thank the gods), and that is where the separation stands. Our souls are different, so our chakras are different.'

Since that made sense, Narashi quickly turned his attention back to Kakashi, just in time to hear him ask angrily and disbelievingly, "What do you mean, 'you didn't know'?"

"Exactly what I said, Kakashi," Narashi answered, shrugging his shoulder. "I'm being serious here, I really didn't know. I'm sorry I don't have a better answer but that's how it is." He waited for Kakashi to say something but when he didn't, Narashi asked, "So, what's your next question? 'Cause I can't believe that that would be your only one."

Kakashi, who had been looking at the ground, trying to come up with an explanation to his own question, turned his gaze back to the other man, his single eye conveying none of his thoughts. "Technically, you haven't even answered my first question. And you know which one I mean," he quickly added, irritated, when Narashi opened his mouth to reply in ignorance.

The older shinobi closed his mouth, face once again expressionless, thinking very carefully about how to respond. He knew, though, that there was really only one way to answer.

'Kyuubi?'

'I know. But what are you going to tell him? The full truth or just half?'

'Just half for now,' Kakashi answered after a brief pause. 'It's a little too late to try and keep that part a secret any longer.'

Naruto instantly caught on to what they were talking about. 'So we're really going to show him?'

'Might as well. Kakashi's already seen it through his sharingan. There's no point in continuing to hide it from him.'

'How are we going to explain it though? Obviously, we aren't going to just tell him that we came from the future, and the nine-tailed demon fox was just a part of the package.' Naruto ignored the faint growl from said demon at that statement. 'So what are we going to say?'

'Tch,' Kyuubi scoffed. 'Just tell him that you're a half-demon with the ability to go full, which you've decided to do. And yes, that is possible,' he added before the other two could ask. 'You can come up with your own explanation for why.'

'I already have something in mind, so we don't need to worry about that. Do you have any objections to this, Naruto?'

'Not really. He's your younger self, so you're the only one who knows what's best. If you think this is a good idea, Kakashi-sensei, then I'll go along with it.'

Narashi let out a small sigh, hoping that he wasn't making a huge mistake here. As he looked back up at Kakashi, he released the illusion, revealing his true form to Kakashi's normal eye.

Even though he had already seen it, at least partially, through the sharingan, it still came as a huge shock to Kakashi when Narashi's form suddenly shimmered and revealed those animalistic features in full. The long golden tail was draped over the front of the log-bench, its silver tip flicking idly back and forth. The fox ears were folded back, as if their owner was worried about something. The sharp claws and overlarge canines glinted in the sunlight. And his eyes. A sharp, black line, deeper than the Abyss, lying in a pool of blood red, looking straight into his own, seeming to stare into his very soul.

Only one word entered Kakashi's mind to describe what he saw.

Demon.

"This is what I am, Kakashi," Narashi said, somewhat sadly, knowing where Kakashi's thoughts were going. There was no turning back now, though, so he had to continue. "I am a hanyou, a half-demon. It was only after I decided to become a full demon that I actually transformed. That was after I woke up, so that's why nobody saw while I was unconscious."

He paused, waiting for some kind of reaction from Kakashi. He was disappointed though, as the boy kept his head down, his hair shadowing his visible eye. He didn't know quite what reaction he had been expecting, but he'd been hoping for something more than this complete silence.

"Kakashi. I can guess what you might be thinking, and I doubt they're pleasant. But I would swear on everything I care about that, demon or not, I would never harm this village or anyone in it." Narashi needed Kakashi to understand that. It just seemed inherently wrong for Kakashi to fear and hate him.

"Why?"

Kakashi's sudden question startled Narashi, not knowing how to respond. "What?"

"Why did you decide to become a full demon?" Kakashi asked, looking up and looking at him with a one-eyed glare that demanded a good answer. "There is a reason right? That isn't the kind of decision someone would make lightly, and you don't strike me as the power-hungry type."

Narashi blinked, surprised, though he couldn't really say why, as he had actually been somewhat expecting this question, and so had his answer prepared. "Remember when I told you about my foresight ability?" Kakashi nodded. "Well, just after I woke up, I had a 'vision' of sorts, and realised that something catastrophic would happen to Konoha. I can't say what, nor can I say when. But I do know that it's going to be disastrous for the village, with a lot of deaths and a lot of damage. That's why I decided to take the change. If I can use my power to help protect the village, then it's worth it."

Kakashi looked at him in confusion and a bit of disbelief as well. "Why do you care so much about the safety of Konoha? You just got here, and haven't even been officially instated as a ninja yet, so why? What reason would you have?"

Smiling, Narashi answered, "I may have only just physically arrived, but in my heart, Konoha has always been my home. I was wearing this," he pointed up to his hitae-ate, "when you found me, for a reason, you know."

He still wasn't sure if he believed Narashi or not, but he decided to leave it for now, since he could see that Narashi was being completely honest when he said that he would do anything to protect Konoha and its inhabitants. When it came down to it, that is all that mattered. The exact reasons weren't important at the moment.

There was, however, one matter that he couldn't leave alone. "Does Sensei know?" he asked, expecting a straight answer.

Frowning a little, Narashi answered Kakashi's question somewhat hesitatingly. "Depends on what you're referring to. If it's the prediction, then yes, he does know. I told him everything I could about that." Though I left out he small detail that he would seal the demon in his own newborn son. But that's a reason in and of itself.

The younger ninja's eyes narrowed. "But what about -?"

"- me being a demon?" Narashi interrupted, finishing the question. He sighed, reaching the point he was more worried about. "You're the only one who knows. Minato knows about everything else, but he doesn't know what I am. And I would like to keep it that way, Kakashi." He quickly continued as Kakashi opened his mouth to argue. "I know you disagree with me on that, and I understand why. Trust me, when the time is right, he and the rest of the village will know. But it's better that they don't find out until then. That's why I'm asking you to keep this secret, Kakashi. No one else can know."

The young jounin looked as if he was unwilling to comply, instead ready to go straight to the Hokage's office to explain what he had been told. He had one last thing to ask however. "There's an entire clan of Sharingan users here, and the Byakugan would do just as well, if not better, at seeing past your illusion that keeps your true from hidden. What's to stop other ninjas from finding out like I did and telling the entire village?"

Narashi instantly started laughing, if somewhat humorlessly. "I'm still trying to figure out how you saw through it! The entire first week I was here, I had both Uchihas and Hyuugas staring at me with their bloodlines, as if trying to see past my chakra and look into my head, trying to find some reason to get me out of this village. Since there has yet to be an uprising to exile me from Fire Country, they obviously hadn't seen anything. Your Sharingan certainly helped, but there has to be something about you specifically that allowed you to see past it."

'Although,...now that it's put like that, I think I know why now.'

'Really?! What?'

'...We're the same person. He is me, and I am him, even if there are sixteen years separating us. But even though I have more experience than he does, our chakras are still the same. I honestly can't explain it any better than that, and I'm sure there are other factors as well. But I am sure that it's part of the reason, at least.'

'Even if you can't explain it, what you just said still makes a lot of sense. There isn't much that can be kept secret from yourself.' Kyuubi growled low in his throat. 'And now I'm starting to worry that being sealed in the brat all these years is finally having an adverse effect on me. That's the only way a human could've figured out something relatively simple before I could.'

'Haha! Yeah, you must be losing your...touch...' Naruto faded off, actually thinking about what Kyuubi said precisely. 'HEY! Wait a minute! What do you mean by that?!'

Only through sheer force of (Kakashi's) will did Narashi manage to keep the expression on his face unchanged, though his eyes now glittered in part irritation, part amusement. He turned his attention back to Kakashi, who looked a little stunned at the information he had been told, and said, "So you see, unless they've all been hiding it from the general population for some reason, it's unlikely that anybody else will figure out my secret the way you did.

"But that's really beside the point. The point here is," Narashi continued, looking at the younger jounin in full seriousness, "will you, or will you not, keep what you found out today a secret?"

Kakashi though very carefully on his response. He knew that Narashi had been telling the truth, (though how he knew this with complete certainty was a mystery to him), and that he thought it would be very bad if the village found out that he was a demon before it was 'time'. But at the same time, he had an obligation to his village and his Hokage to 'sound the alarm' when he perceived any kind of threat to the village.

'But you don't feel threatened by Narashi,' a small voice said in the back of his mind. 'You're shocked by the knowledge, but you know that there isn't any actual threat.'

That was true, he didn't feel any. When he first saw Narashi's demon form, his head kept telling him to run and notify Minato that there was a demon in the village. That would have been the logical action to take. But something else insisted that he stay and listen to Narashi before he made a decision to do anything. And he had listened to it.

That seems to be the rising standard with Narashi. Listen to my heart, not my head, Kakashi thought wryly. I've been told all my life that a shinobi should always examine the situation and make the most logical choice based only on facts, never on personal feelings. But ever since...that mission, everything I believed in has been turned around, and the way I act towards everyone is different. Do I want to change that, though?

Without even really thinking about it, Kakashi already knew what his answer would be.

"All right, Narashi, I won't tell anybody. If it needs to be kept secret, I'll keep it secret," Kakashi told him. "But...if a situation occurs where I have to tell someone, I will," he added, the look on his face making it clear that he was being serious.

Frowning as he responded, Narashi said, "All right, but on one condition." He continued as Kakashi raised an eyebrow in question. "If you have to tell somebody, only tell Minato." The man paused, considering something. "If he's unavailable, Jiraiya-sama or Sarutobi-sama will be fine as well. But no one else, okay?"

Kakashi nodded, easily agreeing to the condition, and understanding its reasoning. "Yeah. I would've only told people I trusted anyway, not some random person on the street."

And if you trust them, I trust them, though you don't really need to know that or the reason, Narashi though with a smile. It quickly turned into a grin. "So, is there anything else you want to know while I'm still willing to answer questions?"

"Not really," Kakashi answered after thinking for a few seconds. "You've already answered the main ones I had, and I think I've figured out the answer to my last one." He pointed to the tail still draped over the log. "How you managed to toss me during our fights."

Narashi instantly started laughing, said tail pounding a rythym on the wood. He stopped, though, when he heard the signature 'poof' of a summoning. Opening his eyes, and seeing the danger speeding towards him, he quickly dodged to the side with a shocked yell.

His tail, however, wasn't as fast to escape.

Gaping, Narashi stared at the appendage, particularly where one of Kakashi's larger shuriken had it pinned to the log near the silver tip. Two of the long prongs were on either side of the actual flesh of the tail, holding it in place, but aside from slicing off a few hairs, not causing any damage.

Turning his gaze to the perpetrator, Narashi could see that he was obviously smirking, both eyes uncovered. He stood in a battle position, turned a little to the side.

"Well, are we going to get back to training again, or what?" Kakashi asked, his smirk widening. Revenge is usually a hard pill to swallow when done, but sometimes, it can be really sweet. "I got a little distracted by your appearance, but I'm ready now, so let's get back to where we left off, shall we?" He finished his off with the standard 'come and get me' motion with his hand.

Narashi's shocked gaze immediately turned into a glare. As he freed his tail by sharply pulling the shuriken out, only one statement ran through his mind.

'That brat is going to pay!'

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Later that day, just as the sky started to darken as sunset approached, Narashi collapsed into the bed in his small apartment, completely exhausted by the day's events. He had sent Kakashi home to rest after the boy had started to tire out from chakra exhaustion after a couple hours of fighting. He had decided to head back home himself after making sure that the teen had actually made it to his apartment.

Yawning, he put his arms behind his head, and without even bothering to take off his jacket or headband, he closed his eyes and instantly fell asleep.

Only to find themselves in front of Kyuubi's cell.

"Hey, Kyuubi!" Naruto shouted, irritated at the sleep interruption. "What's the deal? We're all tired, so can't you let us get some sleep?"

"Tch," Kyuubi scoffed. "You were the one with questions you wanted answered earlier, brat. About White Chakra, remember? I just figured that now would be as good a time as any to answer them. Face to face is just easier as well."

"Oh." Figuring that he might as well take advantage of the chance Kyuubi had 'so kindly' offered, Naruto turned to Kakashi, who stood next to him, looking like he would rather be somewhere else. "You said that 'white chakra' was your kekkei genkai, but I didn't even know you had one. Except for the Sharingan, but that isn't even yours, technically. So what is it, exactly? And I thought your chakra was blue, like chakra normally is. So why the difference?" Naruto asked, recalling what Neji had told him once when he asked enough times about what he saw through the Byakugan.

Kakashi looked like he was about to reply with a short answer that would tell Naruto no more than he had earlier. Before he could even open his mouth though, Kyuubi took it upon himself to answer Naruto's questions.

"Okay, first Gaki, one question at a time," the demon fox growled out. "As for your questions; yes, chakra normal is blue, so to speak, at least in its natural form. Only demons have a naturally different color, which is different for each of us. Ichibi's is gold, Nibi's is an orangish-yellow, Sanbi's is sea green, so on and so forth until you come to my red chakra." Kyuubi's teeth gleamed as he grinned, unable to resist adding, "Of course, that color is a sign of just how powerful I am.

"However, during the time when there were no ninja villages, only nomadic clans who fought against each other almost constantly, there was one clan who had a chakra that was very similar to demon chakra. Not just in the way it looked, but the way it acted as well. This, in turn, earned them a reputation of being a clan of demons."

Naruto gasped, not having expected that bit of information. He didn't need to ask to know which clan Kyuubi spoke of. He looked over at Kakashi to see how he reacted, noticing that the man had leaned up against the wall, hands in his pockets, his shoulders stiff from what was being revealed by Kyuubi. Naruto didn't know if that reputation was still in widely known, but from Kakashi's reaction, there had probably been references made about it towards him at some point.

There are probably some being said right now, in fact, Naruto thought with a scowl, having noticed how some villagers looked at teen-Kakashi in the past two weeks. Especially by the Uchiha. I definitely wouldn't be surprised, with the way they're treating him.

Kyuubi's grin widened at Naruto's reaction. "Yes, they were the Hatake, the so-called 'demon clan'." He scoffed, as if disgusted and insulted by that statement. "Of course, that reputation is nothing but rumor. The white chakra users were just as human as any other clan. The only true connection to demons the Hatake could have is the rumor that they somehow gained their bloodline from Gobi, the Wolf Demon, whose chakra is the same. Whether it's true or not, though, only Gobi knows, and he and I have never been friends." The angry growl in his voice when speaking about the Five-Tailed Wolf gave truth to Kyuubi's words.

"Whether there is any real connection though, it matters not," he said, shaking his head. "The fact remains that white chakra acts very much like yokai, and is the strongest chakra a non-jinchuriki can achieve." Kyuubi suddenly chuckled darkly. "Of course, like all kekkei genkai, there is a risk in using it. Isn't that right, Cyclops?"

Kakashi didn't respond for a few minutes, thinking about his answer, though he really didn't want to talk about it. He didn't bother asking how the Kyuubi knew so much about his family history and bloodline. It didn't take much to realize that some of what the ancient demon knew would be impossible for mortals to even comprehend, much less know. Looking over at Naruto, though, he saw the boy's rising curiosity, impatient for an answer.

"White chakra," Kakashi started slowly, releasing a resigned sigh, "is very powerful, but it's also very hard to control properly. The more chakra being accessed, the harder it is to control, and the probability of going berserk increases. It's that that actually gave my clan the reputation that Kyuubi spoke of, in fact. There's no actual transformation of any kind, but it's still very similar to what happens when you use the Kyuubi's Cloak. The distinction between friend and foe becomes...difficult...to maintain, after a certain limit, which would be different for everyone."

Here he stopped, debating with himself on whether to continue or not, as the topic started getting to more personal territory that he never like talking about. The choice was decided when Naruto asked, "But that doesn't really explain why I've never seen you use it before. I understand the risk." He threw an annoyed glare towards Kyuubi when he said this. The demon merely started to pick his teeth with his claws, completely uninterested in any complaints Naruto may have.

Naruto ignored the demon's actions, though his eyebrow twitched in annoyance, and finished what he was saying. "But even with the risk, this kekkei genkai sounds like it still would've been useful sometimes."

Kakashi stood rock stiff as he answered Naruto's question. "There's a very good reason why you have never seen me use that power. Except when I used the 'Chakra Fang', the blade my father created specifically for our bloodline, I've only fully accessed that reserve three times in my life. And each time, I had lost complete control over my actions instantly." Kakashi stopped again, staring hard at the ground, having reached the heart of why he disliked talking about his bloodline. Finally, though, he finished his explanation, voice laced with intense guilt.

"The first time it happened, I was seven, and had just seen something that made me lose complete control over my emotions." Kakashi silently refused to elaborate on just what that was. "Before they finally managed to calm me down, I had nearly killed Minato-sensei and Jiraiya-sama. I didn't actually injure them, but if they had been any slower, I would have."

Naruto reeled, shocked by the revelation. He had known for a long time that Jiraiya had nearly died from injuries only twice in his career (Naruto had to force himself from getting lost in guilt over event number two, knowing that now wasn't the time for it). However, since life-threatening situations were practically part of the job description of being a ninja, Naruto had always figured that if situations had gone differently, the perverted sannin would've had a longer list. To know that Kakashi could've been the cause of one, especially at such a young age, surprised him more than he ever thought that it would.

Before Naruto could say anything, however, Kyuubi stated his opinion, almost grudgingly, about what Kakashi had said. "That doesn't surprise me one bit. I've battled many white chakra users before, and gained a fair amount of knowledge about its power. But not one of those humans could even compare with the amount of sheer, raw power that your White Chakra reserve has, Kakashi. Your normal reserve may be nothing compared to Naruto's, as you told him weeks ago. However, your bloodline could offer a better comparison." He growled slightly under his breath, thinking, And I can't believe that I'm saying this about a human, of all things.

The two humans found themselves thinking along similar lines, hardly able to believe that Kyuubi would say something almost complimentary like that.

"That's weird, coming from you," Naruto said. "But how exactly do you know that?"

"Hmph. There's not much to do here but examine your chakra. These pipes that represent the chakra coils," he gestured to the glowing pipes on the walls with a tail, "come in here for a reason. Much of the source comes from inside here, so it's not hard to see it whenever I want, though I certainly can't do anything with it. I grew bored of yours, brat, years ago. Cyclops's gave me something different to look at these past couple weeks.

"But to go into detail about that would be getting completely off topic, and it would go entirely over your head, anyway," Kyuubi said, shaking his head and flicking his tails flippantly. Almost as an afterthought, though, he briefly added to Kakashi, "I'll want to talk to you about it later though, without the thick-headed idiot here.

"Anyway," the fox continued, before Naruto could make any kind of protest to the insult, "the point you need to understand, Naruto, is that White Chakra is a very powerful bloodline, even if there is only one user left in this world, and if used improperly, can be very dangerous. Not just to the victim, but to the user as well. By now, you should have enough to answer the questions you had. Now, like you were complaining about earlier, we're all tired, so both of you get out of here, and don't bother me anymore."

Without further ado, Kyuubi forced them back to the 'front' of their mind, waking him up.

Narashi sighed. "I hate it when he does that."

'And what the hell did he mean 'don't bother me anymore'?' Naruto grumbled. 'He was the one who forced us there in the first place.'

'He's just doing what he does best, Naruto. Irritating others.'

There was silence for a few minutes, before Naruto said, 'Hey, Kakashi-sensei?'

'Hm?' Kakashi indicated that he was listening. Silently, he hoped that this didn't have anything more to do with White Chakra, but it was a faint hope.

'What were...' Naruto asked, tentatively, knowing that this was a sensitive topic for Kakashi, but still needing to know. 'What were the other two times?'

A sigh. '...The second time was during Kyuubi's attack, after Rin had...been killed...The third was just before I left ANBU. It's actually what prompted my decision to resign in the first place.'

Apparently Kyuubi had been listening, because he said, with a short bark of laughter, 'Heh. Yes, I remember that, and aside from the actual sealing jutsu, you were the only one of all those little ants to actually hurt me. Not a lot, but certainly more than the others.' Kyuubi's laughter filled their mind. 'I hope you had time to thank your sensei. It was only his quick intervention that saved you from being eaten in retribution.'

Kyuubi cut off his connection before either Naruto or Kakashi could respond.

There was another brief silence before Kakashi said, 'Naruto, I know you do understand why I don't use the White Chakra, but there's something else that I want you to consider in my reasoning.

'What?'

'...Think of it this way; if you transformed into the four-tails every time you ever accessed Kyuubi's chakra, would you have ever used it?'

Naruto didn't respond. He didn't need to. They both knew what his answer would be to that.

A/N: Sorry if that ending seemed a little rushed. It wasn't where I originally intended to end this chapter, but it was late at night, and I just wanted Kyuubi to stop talking.

As for the White Chakra, everything here is just the general idea I've had surrounding it for a long time now, with various influences, whose sources I can't remember. I know it might seem wierd, but it's what I've had rolling around in my head for a while now, and it just seemed appropriate to explain that here, especially since there were some reviewers who had questions about it.